I posted this below in response to one of your post in the \"NDs and diagnosis\" thread but I\'d like to draw your attention to this issue so I\'m submitting it here as a new thread. You\'ve posted that \"having attended an on-campus naturopath school, I don\'t feel that they offer sufficient training for a primary care practitioner either.\"

I disagree completely with this assessment of my alma mater and I\'m really disappointed that you think it\'s appropriate or honorable to vent here.

I\'ve been in practice as an N.D. in Connecticut for the past sixteen years. I attended Bastyr. I would happily compare my diagnostic aptitude with that of any of the M.D.s in my area and, I submit, my skills would be found at least equivalent.

My fellow clinicians at Bastyr were likewise very competent clinicians and diagnosticians.

You know or will learn that education and competence in medicine is based largely on self-motivation. Diagnosis relies on intelligence, familiarity with testing/imaging/ddx and curiousity. You won\'t find what you\'re not looking for.

I\'ve discovered/diagnosed viral hepatitis, stomach cancer, fungal sinusitis, BPH, borderline personality disorder, celiac disease, patent foramen ovale, Lyme disease, syphilis and much more AFTER a patient of mine had been seen by a local M.D. and dismissed.

I actively chose not to attend M.D. schools twenty two years ago; three of my peers at Bastyr left M.D. schools to attend Bastyr. The reasons were our own but I think they paralled your choice for leaving N.D. schools.

I don\'t feel the need to malign M.D. education or M.D. therapeutics. They just weren\'t for me - not at all. I\'m very content with my choice of a career as a naturopathic physician and I am hopeful that you will be happy with your career as an M.D.

Please do stop whining and moaning on this board about N.D. schools. You weren\'t able to finish the program; you don\'t and won\'t practice as an N.D. You know nothing about the hard and satisfying work that practicing naturopathic physicians do.

Sincerely,

John