For more than 18,000 aspiring Indian physicians—the most significant international contingent in Ukraine—the lure of affordable, quality medical education in Ukraine is quickly unraveling into a nightmare. Marooned by Russia’s invasion and a lack of med school space available for them in their home country, many now find their medical education journeys paused. Worse consequences may be on the way.
Aside from dentists, med students in the U.S. have the largest student loan debts out of all American college graduates and are well ahead of fellow future physicians, internationally. Last year, the median loan debt for medical students was around $207,000; a figure that had increased $40,000 since 2009. Over the last 12 years, that’s a rate three times faster than inflation.
When Dr. Jeremy Polman attended medical school as a young DO student, he found limited resources for learning osteopathic manipulative medicine. As a fellow, he got to work figuring out how to understand it better. With help from OnlineMedEd, that journey has led to a new book that could change how OMM is understood.
Comedian Hasan Minhaj explained the difference between MDs and DOs on late night television recently. “An MD is Coca Cola and a DO is RC Cola,” he said. Though ill-informed, Minhaj’s comments are an example of enduring public misconceptions around osteopathic physicians and their skill set.
For decades, young physicians in the United States have entered the medical workforce woefully underprepared to deal with, and treat, opioid addiction. Though recent years have seen addiction medicine receive increasing recognition and support, opioid overdose numbers continue to skyrocket.
