Osteopathic medicine is a branch of the medical profession in the United States. Osteopathic physicians (DOs) are licensed to practice medicine and surgery in all 50 states and are recognized to varying degrees in 85 other countries. The field is distinct from osteopathic practices offered in nations outside of the U.S., whose graduates and practitioners are generally not considered part of core medical staff nor of medicine itself. Only graduates of American osteopathic medical colleges may practice the full scope of medicine and surgery generally considered to be medicine by the general public.