Different Residencies

[postbacpremed87]

Who here believes in having two tracks:

2 year General Podiatric residencies - Kind of like the primary care, general practitioner

3-4 year Surgical Podiatric residencies
- completion makes you board eligible for subsequent 1-2 advanced fellowships

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[pacpod]

Personally, I feel like this would be a step backward for our profession. I think this would revert us back to when we had all the different types of residencies and things were confusing as to what each person could do.

Just my $0.02

 

[SLCpod]

Personally, I feel like this would be a step backward for our profession. I think this would revert us back to when we had all the different types of residencies and things were confusing as to what each person could do.

Just my $0.02

I agree.

 

[PatchAdamsFan]

Who here believes in having two tracks:

2 year General Podiatric residencies - Kind of like the primary care, general practitioner

3-4 year Surgical Podiatric residencies
- completion makes you board eligible for subsequent 1-2 advanced fellowships

I agree that this is backwards thinking. As a disclaimer, I agreed with many posts from PADPM, etc. (who support the residency division), but do we need this inner-professional warfare that exists in some medical specialties? I understand that many students will have no business doing major surgeries or even don't want to. Unfortunately, that is part of the specific podiatry profession. They will have to 'suffer' through it, and basically discontinue in the workforce. If they are incompetent, they will naturally be weeded out. If they do the bare minimum, that's life, there are plenty of not-so-special medical surgeons. Back on topic, I feel that the 3 year mandatory residency beats the suggested route (the discussion whether 2 or 3 years is enough for surgery is another issue). BTW to be petty, why wouldn't the 2 year resident be eligible to have, say, a 1 year biomechanics fellowship for example? I seriously feel that this thinking is damaging to the profession, which isn't to say it is not worth discussing!

 

[zdlamkin8195]

I agree for the most part that stepping away from the 3 year residency would be bad for the profession. My idea has always been that we should keep them at 3 years but have some residencies that focus on something other than surgery. Like a previous poster mentioned, open up some that focus heavily on biomechanics, research, wound care, etc. They may not be the most sought after positions overall, but it would allow those who wouldn't normally get a spot to be able to practice in some way.

 

[feet2017]

I prefer only the 3 year residence as well.

 

[pod101]

I am in favor of standardizing podiatry training.

I am in favor of "parity" with MD/DO. I feel "parity" will grant us more options should America opt for an even more European style type of health care system. Also from 8 months of shadowing several podiatrists, I don't feel a total "dental" model will work for us b/c I got the impression podiatry does not have the same infrastructure as the ADA.

Do all of us need to be surgeons or trained in surgeries? I will leave this to the more experienced pods to answer. Should we be thankful that we have this opportunity to train/perform surgeries on the foot/ankle? Yes.

For those not interested in surgery I had another idea that could follow the MD model:

I would be in favor for a 3 year residency that focused more on:

Infections (esp those in the lower body)/Family/General Medicine
Bio mechanics
Wound Care

Kind of like if a family doctor and a podiatrist had a baby. Perhaps lose rights to the bones for an expanded scope of soft tissue practice?

Graduates of this residency would be primary care podiatrists. A play on the whole "primary care physicians". I mean heck natruopaths (no offense to ND's out there) are not really recognized by many organizations, but yet they are licensed as primary care givers in a few states. It could be an interesting niche to fill.

You could create these residencies in hospitals that might not have enough surgical cases to meet current standards. You might even be able to work out a deal for those who do not match to create a 1 year internship/apprenticeship year where you can apprentice yourself to a certified podiatrist and fast track to a hospital for a 2 year program to complete the 3 years needed total. A podiatrist might find use for a low wage trainee for 1 year. Idk these are just ideas that popped into my head. I am tired ><.

 

[teracky]

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[FootAndAnkle]

I agree that this would be a step backward for podiatry. With how small our profession is, I think it best we try to make our qualifications as minimally confusing for the public, including our patients and legislators, to understand.

 

[StudentDPM2016]

The podiatric medicine community is pushing to be seen as physicians, and have the same legislative rights as MDs & DOs. To do so, they have to have a uniform residency that is 3 years to help the cause. Plus, at this point in time it is great to be able to know how to do surgery, even if you never do plan on doing it. You don't want to be limited later on in your career, and it looks better to patients looking for a new DPM.