re: Would You Use A Doctor Who Graduated From A Med School in Caribbean?

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we've beaten this up a few times before but general consensus is where they did residency has more bearing than where they went to school

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This. Experience also is important.

when it comes to choosing a doctor, I always go with the oldest one. it seems like they have more experience with "seen it all" if you know what I mean.

I suspect that this helps them diagnose a little better.

that's just me

I have 2 friends that went to Caribbean med schools and they are both dumbshits. Wouldn't let them near me for medical purposes.

They are probably more than qualified but couldn't get in due to affirmative action. You know the med schools forcing all these black / asian / and indian doctors down our throat for the sake of "diversity".

They're are some good MDs from there but the worst MDs I've enciuntered are from there as well. As long as they're board certified they are probably ok

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'm on the search for a new primary care doctor in Dallas for regular checkups, annuals etc.
I've been looking at the MD review sites and see some with good reviews but when I click on their bio, a good many of them have graduated from med schools in Caribbean. I'm hesitant to choose a doctor who couldn't get into a US med school. I don't care if they have degrees from Johns Hopkins or Harvard, but Ross University, St George etc has me a little wary of these doctors abilities. Am I wrong in these assumptions?

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1. Residency is what matters. If he/she knew enough medical knowledge to get a residency than he/she knows just as much as any US trained doctor. Especially since every medical textbook or research paper can be downloaded on his/her ipad in a matter of seconds if he/she doesn't know.
2. I maybe a little bias (since I am currently a caribbean med student), but med school in the caribbean is nothing like that the perception is. The US medical schools cull people left and right because they don't fit into all the boxes. The caribbean med students are studying their arses off right now just like the US ones. We also have the option to do out clinical rotations outside the US and see other medical systems and apply what they do right and avoid what they do wrong. In the US the students only see what is done in that state (i.e LSU students only know how it is done in Louisiana hospitals, OM students only know how it is done in Misssissippi hospitals).
3. Better get used to have doctors that went to school outside the US and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Europe and the rest of the world figured out decades ago that it is cheaper and has better results if you try to cure the pt and promote a healthy lifestyle and all that mumbo jumbo that it was just to throw pills down pt's throats. One of my professors practiced in the US and the Netherlands before he retired and just started teaching. He said he was amazed that when he started praciticing in the US in the 80's that GPs were not advising overweight pts to seek nutrional and exercise therapy to try and lose weight to help control blood pressure.

Nope

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If you can't get into Medical School in the US, you go to the Caribbean. If you can't get in there, you go to D.O. school. No thanks.

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In terms of prestige, in general:
US Allopathic > US Osteopathic >
Foreign medical school (like the Caribbean)

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And no, you won't be able to tell them apart by their name tags either because the D.O.'s will just put "Dr. Smith", leaving off the "D.O" so people just assume they're an MD. Chiropractors do the same shite.

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These are very far from being similar. A chiropractor who has completed a doctorate program still isn't a physician. Osteopaths are most definitely physicians in every sense of the word. For all intents and purposes, when discussing physicians, MD=DO. Most DOs go on to receive the same allopathic residency training. There are many who do go on to practice osteopathy, but the vast majority of them wind up in competition with US MDs before anyone else for residency spots.



And, lastly, chiropractory is loosely based on the teachings of osteopathy, minus the medical training. Osteopathy basically is regular allopathic medicine + physical manipulation. To not regard a DO similarly/the same as an MD who graduated from the same residency program is a farce, at best.




Also, you'll rarely find an osteopath who practices osteopathy who doesn't rave about it and explain how superior it is to allopathic/md practice.



ETA: in no way am I suggesting that all DO > Caribbean MDs. That's just the general trend I've encountered, the perception I've come to gather. Much like USMD grads, there's plenty of good and plenty of bad that come through. Board certification is probably your best bet to distinguish who you want treating you, then personality, and once you've gotten past that, consider asking where they went to school. It's not all that important.