ALPHABET SOUP

Did you ever wonder what all of those letters stand for at the end of your doctor's name? No, this is not a segment from Andy Rooney, but rather an opportunity to clarify who's who among doctors. Now, as most you know, all physicians are doctors, but not all doctors are physicians. Physicians are doctors of medicine, which means that they have graduated from an accredited medical school. They hold the degree of M.D. (medical doctor). Your physician may also have the letters D.O. after their name, which stands for doctor of osteopathic medicine. There is really very little difference today, but historically, osteopathic physicians branched off from standard medicine (allopathic medicine) and incorporated more of a holistic approach to medicine which involved manipulation therapy. They still teach this in osteopathic schools, but often times this art is lost. Osteopathic doctors complete the same prerequisite training as do allopathic physicians and even specialize in the same disciplines of medicine.

All other doctors are non-physicians. This means that they have received prerequisite training in their respective disciplines, and have received doctoral degrees from their respective schools. Examples of this would be dentists, who have one of two degrees --D.M.D. (doctor of dental medicine) or D.D.S. (doctor of dental surgery). Other examples include podiatrists, who carry the degree D.P.M. (doctor of podiatric medicine), optometrists, O.D. (doctor of optometry), chiropractors, D.C. (doctor of chiropractic) and men and women who hold a Ph.D. (doctor of philosophy) from graduate school.

Following the degree at the end of your physician's name, there are often times additional abbreviations. For example, following my degree are the letters F.A.C.S. which stand for "Fellow of the American College of Surgeons". This signifies that I have been admitted as a "fellow" into the organization called the American College of Surgeons. These abbreviations are sometimes confusing, even to medical personnel. They usually represent some form of a specialty society that the physician is voted in to after he or she has obtained the appropriate post-graduate training, experience, board certification and has demonstrated high ethical standards in his or her practice. Another example is F.A.C.O.G. which stands for Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

So hopefully now when you see a conglomerate of lettering following your doctor's name, it will not just be alphabet soup. You will be able to decipher it and make sure you are going to the right person for the right job.