Podiatry Schools

[skyboy99]

Further research into Podiatry has shown me is in fact a great profession. It's a Multi-Medical specialty career which combines primary care with bio-mechanics, radiology, dermatology, neurology, gen. surgery, reconstructive surgery and so on. I would Not be happy working as a family practice, internal, pediatric, gynecologist/obstetrician, urology doctor, which is what most MD/DO students match-in. I now have some general questions...

1) In regards to the residency shortage for podiatry, Has that problem been solved already??? If Not, I don't think I'll have to worry since I would not graduate until 2016, It should be solved by then, right???

2) Which Podiatry schools have integrated their 1st two years with MD or DO students???

3) If you had to choose between NYCPM and TUSPM which school would you pick to go to and why???

4) Can pods respond to emergency situations in hospitals, and how common are they?? And what type of emergencies do they respond to???

5) My state does Not allow DPM's currently to hire PA's. Besides being able to hire medical assistants (but they can only do so much), can DPM'S hire RN's?? Or someone else??. I don't want to do all the work=

6) What is the outlook for the profession demand wise?? Does anyone also have any salary statistics for practicing Pods in 2010?

7) This question has never been asked before, but are there any conservative podiatric medical colleges?? I currently go to a very liberal university and i hate it, I want to be surrounded by republicans!

Thanks. I may add more questions later on. So be sure to check back!

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[347932]

Further research into Podiatry has shown me is in fact a great profession. It's a Multi-Medical specialty career which combines primary care with bio-mechanics, radiology, dermatology, neurology, gen. surgery, reconstructive surgery and so on. I would Not be happy working as a family practice, internal, pediatric, gynecologist/obstetrician, urology doctor, which is what most MD/DO students match-in. I now have some general questions...

1) In regards to the residency shortage for podiatry, Has that problem been solved already??? If Not, I don't think I'll have to worry since I would not graduate until 2016, It should be solved by then, right???

The hope is that this shortage will be resolved, but there is no way to say for sure. There are no guarantees in life.

2) Which Podiatry schools have integrated their 1st two years with MD or DO students???

Not sure about this one, so I'm going to defer to the current crop of Podiatry students to help you out.

3) If you had to choose between NYCPM and TUSPM which school would you pick to go to and why???

TUSPM. I went there! No seriously, I really think that it is more a matter of where you prefer to live. Every school has their positives and negatives, and if you are motivated, any school will give you the tools to be an excellent Podiatric Physician/Surgeon.

4) Can pods respond to emergency situations in hospitals, and how common are they?? And what type of emergencies do they respond to???

Yes we do. We respond to everything from diabetic foot infections/foot ulcerations to complex trauma like ankle fractures and severe foot trauma (lawnmower accidents for example). This is highly dependent on the community you practice in, your comfort level dealing with these issues, and your relationship with the hospital/ED staff.

5) My state does Not allow DPM's currently to hire PA's. Besides being able to hire medical assistants (but they can only do so much), can DPM'S hire RN's?? Or someone else??. I don't want to do all the work=

You don't need to hire a PA or an RN to help you around the office with your patients. You can train a medical assistant to help you for FAR less of an investment on your part. Just btw, what "work" do you not want to do?

6) What is the outlook for the profession demand wise?? Does anyone also have any salary statistics for practicing Pods in 2010?

Aging population = huge demand. More active population = huge demand. Lots of kids (I sub-specialize in treating children's feet) = huge demand.

Salary is always dependent on how hard you work and how motivated you are. Every year, the American Podiatric Medical Association releases salary statistics based on surveys that go out to about 12 000 Podiatrists nation wide. Check with them.

Thanks. I may add more questions later on. So be sure to check back!

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[Royal Rooters]

AZPod takes all of the basic science courses with the DO students the first two years. These are classes like biochemistry, physiology, immunology, gross anatomy, microbiology, pharmacology, pathology, neuroanatomy, etc. The differences between curricula involve the more specialized courses pertinent to either the DO or Pod student. For example, the DO's have their OMM courses, intro to human behavior, clinical correlates, and pyschopathology to name a few. The Pods take podiatric surgery, pediatric orthopedics, physical diagonosis, general medicine, pathomechanics, advanced lower extremity anatomy, and biomechanics. The main thing to keep in mind is that the basic science exams are the same exams with the same questions and the same grading curves - nothing is separate or different between the DO's and Pods.

Here are links to the detailed curricula for the 2014 DO and Pod classes:
Pod: http://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Curriculums/Podiatry 11 class of 2014.pdf

DO: http://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Curriculums/AZCOM 11 class of 2014.pdf

As for the conservative podiatric medical college question, I think you're going to run into a mixed bag of people (in terms of democrat/republican) at any school that you decide to attend. This is probably more true at the colleges that also have other graduate medical programs aside from podiatry simply because more students means a higher probability of the students representing the entire political spectrum. Some students may be more vocal about their preferences than others, but I stay on campus as little as possible, so I haven't noticed anything like that. A better indicator might be the surrounding area where the school is located and how the citizens in these counties tend to vote during elections.

 

[PADPM]

4) Can pods respond to emergency situations in hospitals, and how common are they?? And what type of emergencies do they respond to???
5) My state does Not allow DPM's currently to hire PA's. Besides being able to hire medical assistants (but they can only do so much), can DPM'S hire RN's?? Or someone else??. I don't want to do all the work=

6) What is the outlook for the profession demand wise?? Does anyone also have any salary statistics for practicing Pods in 2010?

Thanks. I may add more questions later on. So be sure to check back!

I will only reply to the questions I believe I'm qualifed to answer.

4) Yes, pods can and do often respond to emergencies of all kinds as mentioned by Kidsfeet. This will vary according to the policies and politics of the hospital and training of the DPM

5) Yes, you can hire an RN. Our practice manager has a combined RN and masters degree in practice administration. All our "back-end" staff are also medical assistants and several of them are actually certified x-ray techs. In reality, for most offices, hiring an RN is an overkill.

I actually find your comment "I don't want to do all the work" disturbing. I'm really hoping it was tonque in cheek. Yes, we utilize a lot of assistants and ancillary help in our office(s), but we also have one of the busiest, if not the busiest practice in the region. And EVERY ONE of the doctors, including the partners in the practice does whatever it takes to get the job done, even if it means we have to do "all the work".

Once again, I don't know if you were kidding, but I sure hope you were, especially at this point in your training. IF you weren't kidding, and you plan on being successful, you should also plan on doing ALL the work whenever needed. Otherwise this attitude will reflect when you are a student, during your residency and when you eventually obtain a position as an associate in a practice.

Yes, someday you will earn the right to have someone help you do "all the work", and it's often much more productive that way. But my partners and I (and every other successful practice I know) spent many years doing ALL the work in order to build that successful practice.

6) Salary statistics are all over the place. Work hard, treat patients honestly and ethically and you will make a much better than average income.