My girlfriend has always been interested in applying to medical school but after trying so hard to get in and losing two years she talked to and shadowed a few podiatrist and decided to apply to Podiatry school. She has been given a few interviews and acceptances and I want to be supportive, but to be honest I don't know much about podiatry. I am an MD student and I understand that podiatrist can perform surgery and treat foot related injuries, but I am just confused what they actually do. What type of patients do podiatrist get? are they hospital based or private practice? where can i find more information about podiatry?
and why would FM refer a pt with complicated foot ulceration to a podiatrist over Gen Surg or Ortho?
As a FM doctor, I routinely refer patients with complicated foot ulcers/soft tissue injuries to podiatry. Never to gen surg; rarely (if ever) to ortho.
Orthopedic surgeons are great at fixing bony injuries, but not good at soft tissue injuries/ulcerations. They get very little training in wound healing/wound care during residency, and most ortho residents that I know have little interest in that type of thing.
In contrast, my hospital's wound care center is essentially run by plastics and podiatry. They're awesome - I have seen the podiatrists heal some awful awful ulcers to something that the patient can actually live with.
You have to remember that wound healing involves a good understanding of the surgical options as well as an understanding of the medical side (i.e. the physiology/biochemistry/histology/pathology) side of how the body heals. The ortho guys rarely deal with the medical side of anything; the podiatrists seem to do a better job of training people.
Podiatrists can also do routine diabetic foot care - take care of callouses and ulcers early on. They can correctly trim toenails for diabetics (which is a bigger deal than most people realize), as well as remove toenails, etc. They can correctly fit for orthotics.
As for gen surg, most surgeons do not take care of the extremities; they will either refer to ortho hand or podiatry/foot-and-ankle ortho. They have, either by default or choice (not sure which) started to limit themselves to the abdomen and chest.
Finally, and this may be region dependent, but the podiatrists are much more accomodating. They're easier to get patients in with. The ortho guys, with a few exceptions, are very busy, not very easy to communicate with, and frankly not helpful.
The podiatry residents at my hospital are awesome - I
them. They're cool to work with, very hard working, and incredibly smart.
