how difficult is to get into podiatry residency

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spike_loc

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Is it difficult to get a podiatry residency?

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yes if you have an attitude and are difficult to understand or get along with

This is right on. Moreso than grades, a program wants someone they can trust and who plays nice and isn't abrasive. Being tactful is a skill that comes natural to some, but others, no matter how intelligent can fail to grasp it (think Sheldon for anyone who watches Big Bang Theory). No one wants to work with a jerk.
 
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I did not find the process to be terribly difficult or unfair. 4th year is miserable after about 3 months of externships, but that was due to the lifestyle rather than how much "work" it took, or difficulty level.
 
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I agree. Being "on top of your game" at a new program every month gets tiring. It's hard to keep up the enthusiasm all year long.

Your time on externships is your opportunity to sell yourself to the programs and to evaluate them just like they're evaluating you. More often then not, programs are looking for somebody whose hardworking, willing to learn, affable, easy to get along with, and teachable. Sure, there is a base amount of knowledge programs expect from you, but its assumed you have some idea of what you're doing this time in your academic career. I didn't find it too difficult to get positive feedback from the programs I visited and felt like I had a solid idea of where I stood following externships and interviews.

You'd be surprised how many people are their own worst enemy during externships: they get too comfortable, they show up late, they don't know when to stop talking/be a know-it-all, or they have poor attitudes. These are the folks who often have a difficult time matching.

There are, however, those who perform well on externships but are less fortunate during the match. Perhaps they didn't "play the game" as well as they could, they didn't line up enough externships/interviews, or they were unrealistic when setting rankings and self-evaluating their own performances. Or maybe they were just unlucky.

Either way, it's a level playing field once you get to an externship. Do your best, work hard, show progress, know when to say "I don't know but I'll look it up", and don't be a tool. If you do this, you should have a lot less trouble matching.

Just my 2 cents!
 
I agree with what dtrack and royal have said.

I feel like I ran into a number of other students who didn't understand the value of "I don't know, but I will look it up and get back to you tomorrow". Either people would try and pull something out of thin air or say I don't know and never come back with an answer. I think it shows maturity/hard work to admit where you don't know something and then come back with the answer to show the resident/attending that you took the time to address your deficiencies.
 
I think too many students put too much emphasis on standing out when they should first focus on the basics.

1.) Show up early, work hard, be willing to learn, stay late.
2.) Know your anatomy, know your suturing, know the steps of bread and butter procedures like bunions and toes.
3.) Know how to do a thorough work up for new consults and how to do a quick one for post ops, etc.
4.) Always prep for the next days cases even if you have seen it a million times. It might be the day that an attending hands you the knife...
5.) Don't be a weirdo.

These are the basic things all students should always be doing. Put yourself in the residents/attendings shoes...
"this student can't even show up on time..."
"this student didn't prepare for this case at all..."
"this student doesn't even know their basic anatomy..."

IMO failing to know the advanced stuff won't prevent you from getting a program but failing to know the basics will.
 
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Kind of off topic but I am curious how many programs does an average podiatry student apply to? do many of these podiatry students that had to scramble applied only to a few programs? Did you guys apply all over the nation or mostly did on geographical preference.
 
IMO failing to know the advanced stuff won't prevent you from getting a program but failing to know the basics will.

Because I'm curious, how much of the stuff you learned in non-podiatry related courses matter? Obviously class rank/GPA/passing boards are impacted by your performance in these classes, but are you getting pimped/tested on knowledge of things outside of the F/A? Do attendings check your renal physiology knowledge or question you on anatomy of the skull?

I'm guessing no, so is everything I'm learning right now a "waste"?
 
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Kind of off topic but I am curious how many programs does an average podiatry student apply to? do many of these podiatry students that had to scramble applied only to a few programs? Did you guys apply all over the nation or mostly did on geographical preference.

I'm sure I'm on the low end of the spectrum, but I only interviews at the 7 programs I externed at. 4 had callbacks, I only got 3. So like ankle breaker mentioned, you aren't guaranteed callbacks just because you are a good student or even had a good month. 10 interviews total. I left Frisco knowing I could pick between 2 programs and within the week found out I was ranked high enough at 2 others to have a good shot. I ended up ranking 4 programs. I just personally didn't see the benefit in wasting energy interviewing with programs I didn't extern at, but everyone's situation is different. And that doesnt include interviewing with the programs who dont take externs, obviously you wouldn't be at a disadvantage there.

I headed in a direction and externed at places along the way. I don't think there is anything wrong with picking a location and then find programs that you want to clerk at. I can't think of a "region" where there aren't easily 4-5 very strong programs for you to visit.
 
Kind of off topic but I am curious how many programs does an average podiatry student apply to? do many of these podiatry students that had to scramble applied only to a few programs? Did you guys apply all over the nation or mostly did on geographical preference.

The average number of programs students applied to this year was unusually higher than normal due to everyone freaking out about the residency shortage. Multiple schools also pressured their students to apply to at least 18 (the maximum included with the base fee). Some, including myself, coughed up the extra $75 and applied to more. Most students seemed to apply based on geography. Despite applying to upwards of 30-40 programs, those with below average GPAs/class rank usually received 6-10 interview offers. I think this might have been due to the unusually high number of applications this year. I noticed that those with at least average GPA and rank did not have problems getting more than enough interview offers. Most scheduled around 8-10 interviews.

Let me preface that my experience was not typical. I ended up paying the extra $75 and applied to around 30 programs all over the country. I had one program in particular that I wanted but I decided that if I didn't end up there I was willing to go anywhere geographically. I applied to all my clerkships (6 but 2 did not do interviews) and most of the big name high powered programs with a few randoms mixed in. I figured I would get ~15 interview offers. Ended up getting way too many. Initially I scheduled 15 interviews but then my future program director gave me a call letting me know I was ranked top 2 which meant I would match there. I canceled 10 interviews and went to Texas with 5 scheduled for the heck of it (I had already payed for my plane ticket and hotel). I ended up interviewing with Loyola, DMC, Swedish and canceling the other 2. I did not get a callback from DMC despite getting an excellent review during my clerkship month. I clerked very early in the year and one of the residents recommended that I come back for a visit which I failed to do. I also tripped up on SIRS criteria during the interview - stupid mistake but that's what I get for not preparing for interviews at all. I got a callback from Swedish which was actually a lot of fun. I really liked their interview. Very out of the box, relevant, and made you think. I ranked 3 programs.

I knew which program I wanted and put all my eggs into one basket. It worked out for me but looking back at it I have no idea what I would've done if I hadn't gotten the call. I would've only had 1 week to prep for interviews.
 
I think janV88 originally meant that its ok if you don't know all the surgical pearls to complex procedures. In retrospect majority of the questions I was asked on clerkships had a lot to do with basic stuff (as noted above) than really specific advanced material.

That's exactly what I meant. The basics are what is expected and failing to meet those expectations can do a lot of damage IMO. The advanced stuff are things most self motivated students will pick up through their own studies and especially if you rotate through high powered programs.

IMO the following is the progression students should take with their clerkship education.
1. Basics as I listed above. Do not get too comfortable and let these slip.

2. Intermediate:
a. Clinic education. Pretty much everything that AnkleBreaker mentioned in the post above.
b. Fixation
-Screws: fully, partially threaded and its uses. Anatomy of screws.
-Plates by design: Locking, non-locking, LCDC, etc. Plates by application: Neutralization, buttress, tension band, etc.
-AO technique steps, concept behind lag principle, and how to achieve lag by design and technique. Screw placement perpendicular to fracture and long axis of bone. Indications/contraindications.
-Basics of external fixation. Rails, delta frames, rings. Basic principles of each type.
c. Trauma protocol
-Reduction techniques: charnley, quiggley, etc. Reasoning for reducing even though you are taking pt to OR anyways.
-Open fractures. Classification, abx prophylaxis, etc.
-Fracture mechanisms, classification (especially if prognostic or helps determine treatment)
d. DM wounds
-Purpose of different dressings, biologics.
-Wound VAC indications, application, techniques.
-Surgical candidacy. Viable amp levels, pros, cons. Prophylactic surgery.
-Skin flaps. Proper handling technique, angiosomes.
e. Charcot
-Know charcot vs osteo. Imaging, etc.
-Staging, when can surgery and what kinds of surgery can be done at which stage. Non-surgical management.
-Superconstruct principles.
f. Bones
-Primary vs secondary bone healing, fusion vs fracture healing. Bone grafts indications, properties, how they incorporate. Stress shielding and dynamizing. Callous distraction.

3. Advanced
-TARs
-Ring fixators. Wire placement, etc.
-Surgical pearls to complex procedures.

Current literature should be sprinkled in as students see different cases, get asked questions, student presentations, etc.

Sorry for the long post but hopefully underclassmen will find this helpful in guiding their training.
 
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thanks for the info dtrack, AnkleBreaker, janV88, definitely will bookmark this. I just asked because I would like to work back in CA (my home state) but there might be the chance I might have to go out of state for pod school, I could do the aways in CA but easier said than done unless if some OOS CA students were able to do that. Plus CA podiatry residencies might be difficult to match into so I might have to put AZ and NV as back up. Dont know if home ties/close to family helps in the residency match.
 
Because I'm curious, how much of the stuff you learned in non-podiatry related courses matter? Obviously class rank/GPA/passing boards are impacted by your performance in these classes, but are you getting pimped/tested on knowledge of things outside of the F/A? Do attendings check your renal physiology knowledge or question you on anatomy of the skull?

I'm guessing no, so is everything I'm learning right now a "waste"?[/QUOTE]

IMO knowledge of renal physiology is never a waste. It's more interesting than ankle surgery and when you don't match and need to change fields this other knowledge may come in handy.
Being in the middle of the class is probably good. If you are near the top and the directors don't think they can teach you anything more or that you may be more intelligent than them, they are not as likely to choose you. I nailed interview after interview, even providing information that the interviewers may not have been aware, quoting large varieties of medical journals, and paying attention to whole body systems with consideration to the proposed patient concerns that they presented during interview. I was unmatched to over 50 residency programs. The process is simply horrible. I suppose good comeback lines would be to pretend you don't know too much, make a few benign suggestions for how to approach a problem and allow them to stroke their egos and tell you what they did. Any way that you can stroke their ego is likely going to help you.

I'm sure I'll get bashed on here, as always, because having the ability to memorize large volumes of material somehow will equate to my having a "bad attitude". Those folks can kiss my grits. We all know the many who are kissing the grits of their attending's.
 
Being in the middle of the class is probably good. If you are near the top and the directors don't think they can teach you anything more or that you may be more intelligent than them, they are not as likely to choose you. I nailed interview after interview, even providing information that the interviewers may not have been aware, quoting large varieties of medical journals, and paying attention to whole body systems with consideration to the proposed patient concerns that they presented during interview. I was unmatched to over 50 residency programs. The process is simply horrible. I suppose good comeback lines would be to pretend you don't know too much, make a few benign suggestions for how to approach a problem and allow them to stroke their egos and tell you what they did. Any way that you can stroke their ego is likely going to help you.

I'm sure I'll get bashed on here, as always, because having the ability to memorize large volumes of material somehow will equate to my having a "bad attitude". Those folks can kiss my grits. We all know the many who are kissing the grits of their attending's.

Well now that's a first. You didn't match because you knew too much?! I mean sure there's a chance that you're telling the truth & you are in fact some genius who nailed every interview by flummoxing all the attendings that tried to stump you. And that all this intimidated them and that's why you didn't match.

Buuuut I think there's probably a likelier chance you're not being very self-aware. Have you ever asked a friend for an honest assessment of yourself? I somehow doubt you are as brilliant and faultless as you claim.
 
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Show the residency program what you can offer to there program that no one else can. Show desire to learn, to work, compassion toward the patients and to the other resident show them that you know your stuff but let them have the illusion that they know more than you.
A funny story of what not to do. This kid had such a character. None of the programs he Extern gave him a interview, none on the interview on crips call him back and he needed to scramble, finally found a residency on NYC. Just imagine how much money this kid wasted by sticking with his arrogant character. Something to think about.
 
Well now that's a first. You didn't match because you knew too much?! I mean sure there's a chance that you're telling the truth & you are in fact some genius who nailed every interview by flummoxing all the attendings that tried to stump you. And that all this intimidated them and that's why you didn't match.

Buuuut I think there's probably a likelier chance you're not being very self-aware. Have you ever asked a friend for an honest assessment of yourself? I somehow doubt you are as brilliant and faultless as you claim.

This is exactly the type of ignorant answer I was expecting from this forum. Yes, I am a genius. I am MENSA smart. Flummoxing all the attendings? No. Showing that I really studied my butt off? Yes. But that's not necessarily how it's perceived. My friends and colleagues appreciate the cerebral conversations that we have. They are people who know me, and understand that I greatly enjoy problem solving, make excellent decisions-aside from the bad decision to attend podiatry school-and am not trying to undermine other peoples ideas, concepts, or strategies. I never claimed to be faultless, only that I have awesome intelligence and wanted to use it for the greater good for the field of podiatry. This will never happen though.
Try the ego stroking method for residency interviews. It will work on many attendings.
 
You aren't helping your cause. If you want to influence people you're going to have to start at the beginning. I looked back at a bit of your post history and some of it made me feel sympathetic towards you (other parts made you seem possibly untruthful), but now you are moving towards being an angry guy on a soapbox. I'm sure you would like to remain anonymous, but when did you graduate and from where? What have you done in the mean time? What happened in 2010? It looked like you were excited at the prospect of a residency? Be a person, not a poster.
 
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Its all about playing the game. Sprinkle in hard work, intelligence and luck. Biggest enemy is ego an personality extremes.- IMHO.
 
Its all about playing the game. Sprinkle in hard work, intelligence and luck. Biggest enemy is ego an personality extremes.- IMHO.

YUP! That's the PROBLEM. This is your OPINION. In MY OPINION, the exact opposite is what worked for those who get programs. They weren't all the sharpest tools in the shed, definitely not the hardest working, but LUCK! Yes, you hit the nail on the head with that one. The students with the biggest egos landed great programs. It was amazing. Eon's ago, on externship, there was a co-extern who was lazy, not the smartest, but lucky? Perhaps. He didn't have to go to clinic because the residents had him going to as many surgical cases as possible. Guess who did clinic? Yup, me, every day. He'd go to a case in the morning, while I saw and treated 15+ clinic patients, wrote the charts, got 'em ready for the head honchos to sign. By noon we'd both be in the "residents lounge area" where he would proceed to flop his entire body on the one couch and pretend he was exhausted from the day's observations. Not to worry, if I was there for more than 5 minutes I was told to go do more work, or at least "prepare" a presentation for later. YUP! Hard work has NOTHING to do with it. It is a CRAP SHOOT.
You all act like you're such experts in finding residency placement. I went thru CASPR a gazillion times. Met a LOT of attendings, a few were absolutely wonderful people. Many were not. Many acted like they could care less once the got your filing fee. How much does it cost to get placement? Hmmm I spent about $30,000+, $22,000 one year alone, and came up empty handed. So don't spew crap about how people are going to get placement if they "try harder" and all that garbage when you haven't been through the process, scrambled, or reapplied at least once.
 
You aren't helping your cause. If you want to influence people you're going to have to start at the beginning. I looked back at a bit of your post history and some of it made me feel sympathetic towards you (other parts made you seem possibly untruthful), but now you are moving towards being an angry guy on a soapbox. I'm sure you would like to remain anonymous, but when did you graduate and from where? What have you done in the mean time? What happened in 2010? It looked like you were excited at the prospect of a residency? Be a person, not a poster.

2010? And 2011? And 2012? Want to know what happened? I was working closely with a hospital in an effort to start a residency program. You're genius's in charge kept rejecting the application, stole the hospital fee, and offered little assistance. You're great and wonderful leader refused to talk to me because I am "not the attending". No, I was only the grunt doing all of the paperwork, meetings, etc. to get it off the ground. I met with directors of 5 area hospitals to find one that would allow a pod residency. I used family connections to meet hospital CEO's outside of the normal route. Asked a lot of people for favors to help launch this opportunity that would have provided several spots for many students for years to come.
Why was the application rejected? Too many FF surgeries.:wtf:So I took some out.
Second rejection? Approval people couldn't understand the objectives because they "are not podiatrists". :wtf:So I dumbed them down.
Third rejection? Too many RF cases and the application wasn't specific for RF. :wtf:
After 3 years of BS the hospital pulled out. No program, poof, gone.:boom:
Am I pissed off? Um, yeah, just a little.

How about this concept? Let's get rid of those responsible for approving residency programs . ZERO leadership. We need an easy universal application. If a hospital has a problem with the application, HAVE THE RESIDENCY PEOPLE CORRECT THE PROBLEM. I mean, come on, you're going to make a program chase it's tail because someone down there is too uneducated to understand thoroughly written goals and objectives? Does this sound rational? What is their job description? It seems like it's "find any way possible to reject applications." Let's allow programs to start and work on correcting any "clerical errors" in the first few months. When they have a teaching hospital with a multitude of cases, and several attendings, move it forward. They were going to reject again because the program was able to sustain even more residents than it applied for. Now we have nothing.

I am involved in another field of medicine and that other field goes all out to work with hospitals to start residencies. Podiatry should have the same.

Pod "leaders" are definitely not doing all they can to start residency's. They are rejecting many viable opportunities. You all should be pissed off too. But let's all hold hands, sing kumbaya, and brown nose a little more.

Why mention this now? Because I've done all I can and you all deserve to know the truth behind the "crisis".
 
YUP! That's the PROBLEM. This is your OPINION. In MY OPINION, the exact opposite is what worked for those who get programs. They weren't all the sharpest tools in the shed, definitely not the hardest working, but LUCK! Yes, you hit the nail on the head with that one. The students with the biggest egos landed great programs. It was amazing. Eon's ago, on externship, there was a co-extern who was lazy, not the smartest, but lucky? Perhaps. He didn't have to go to clinic because the residents had him going to as many surgical cases as possible. Guess who did clinic? Yup, me, every day. He'd go to a case in the morning, while I saw and treated 15+ clinic patients, wrote the charts, got 'em ready for the head honchos to sign. By noon we'd both be in the "residents lounge area" where he would proceed to flop his entire body on the one couch and pretend he was exhausted from the day's observations. Not to worry, if I was there for more than 5 minutes I was told to go do more work, or at least "prepare" a presentation for later. YUP! Hard work has NOTHING to do with it. It is a CRAP SHOOT.
You all act like you're such experts in finding residency placement. I went thru CASPR a gazillion times. Met a LOT of attendings, a few were absolutely wonderful people. Many were not. Many acted like they could care less once the got your filing fee. How much does it cost to get placement? Hmmm I spent about $30,000+, $22,000 one year alone, and came up empty handed. So don't spew crap about how people are going to get placement if they "try harder" and all that garbage when you haven't been through the process, scrambled, or reapplied at least once.

IMHO as a soon to be graduate who went through the whole process and got a spot, you couldn't be be further from the truth. I didn't have the highest GPA and I didn't have any connections You seem like a smart guy, do you really think residents are chosen by playing "pin the tail on the applicant"? I think the biggest factor is not necessarily hard work but attitude. You are applying to be their coworkers for the next 3 years, do you not think they are thinking to themselves "Is this someone I can work with for the next few years?"? I've seen many of your past posts and at first glance I get the impression that you are mildly arrogant (I'm not saying you actually are, it's just the impression I get from your posts). If this is the case I can understand why you would have such a hard time finding a program. Arrogance is one of those traits that other people HATE- especially when it comes from someone "lower on the totem pole".
 
Arrogant? That's wonderful. Way back when I was applying for residency spots, I was the farthest thing from arrogant. I was so happy and proud to be in the field of podiatry. I was the biggest podiatry advocate you could find. I was meek, humble, and thrilled to be learning everyday. This field definitely does change you. I suppose after decades of getting stepped on in podiatry, arrogance happens. The most likely reason that I changed so much is because I got nowhere with the kind, gentle attitude that I had. I am very happy to be out of the field of podiatry at this time.
It's nice that you landed one of the coveted residency spots. Hopefully you'll never take that for granted.
 
So @podpal just gonna ignore the fact that times have changed and 85+% of pod graduates gain a residency?
 
You have to read back through podpals posts to understand where she is coming from. Graduated in the 90s, no residency, no board certification, so you can imagine the monotony of practicing podiatry with those credentials. I'm sure programs unfairly (at first) discarded podpal as a serious contender for a spot, just because of the preference they give to recent grads. However, after reading her recent posts I'm sure she came off as a know-it-all podiatrist who had been practicing for 10+ years and was trying to teach younger attendings how to do their jobs. If podpal had a chance at a program, I'd bet a lot of money that attitude sealed the deal.

I don't think there was a single truthful comment in podpal's latest post regarding the CPME application, and that's really what I wanted to comment on. The CPME has been approving programs in record time, and the paperwork as well as their bylaws are posted right on the site for everyone to see/access. I have heard grumblings of some site visitors being less than pleasant, but if you meet CPME requirements, you open a program. Since January of this year alone they have approved 3 new programs with 2 more finalizing their application and awaiting their on-site visit. The application and approval process is by no means "easy" but plenty of other people have figured it out and made it work for their new program...
 
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[QUOTE="dtrack22, post: 15249807, member: 200286"I don't think there was a single truthful comment in podpal's latest post regarding the CPME application, and that's really what I wanted to comment on. The CPME has been approving programs in record time, and the paperwork as well as their bylaws are posted right on the site for everyone to see/access. I have heard grumblings of some site visitors being less than pleasant, but if you meet CPME requirements, you open a program. Since January of this year alone they have approved 3 new programs with 2 more finalizing their application and awaiting their on-site visit. The application and approval process is by no means "easy" but plenty of other people have figured it out and made it work for their new program...[/QUOTE]

Sounds to me like you're the "know it all" as you say. How many residency programs have you developed? Obviously you think that starting a residency program is so easy a caveman can do it. So, I must ask, what have YOU done to start more programs? Or are you simply speaking as a brown nosing ignoramous?
 
That's a silly challenge. He's a 4th year student who just graduated. You know as well as I that students are in no position to 'start' residency programs. Established practitioners with connections are.
 
Podpal needs to be banned. They offer nothing of value to these forums. Like if you're so done with podiatry why are you still responding and participating on these forums?
 
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Podpal needs to be banned. They offer nothing of value to these forums. Like if you're so done with podiatry why are you still responding and participating on these forums?

GUMP YOU ARE A GENIUS! That's your solution to open forum discussion? I have the courage to share the 3 years of work that I put forth in an effort to get a residency off the ground, which would benefit so many students, and you're suggestion is to BAN ME????

Again, this is the big huge problem in podiatry. Ignorant wacko's like you. I offer nothing? What do you offer? I had the courage to speak out about how a handful of minor paperwork issues for the CPME prevented what could have been an amazing residency from developing. What have YOU done to increase residency spots?

Jellybean, how can you use the excuse that you're in no position to do anything. Neither was I. I spent countless hours finding pods willing to be attendings, meeting with several hospital chief's, finding a hospital willing to take a risk on a pod residency program. Why can't you do that too? Why can't all of you?

And after it's all said and done, fellow colleagues would want to ban me? Wow. How is this not screwed up?
 
GUMP YOU ARE A GENIUS! That's your solution to open forum discussion? I have the courage to share the 3 years of work that I put forth in an effort to get a residency off the ground, which would benefit so many students, and you're suggestion is to BAN ME????

Again, this is the big huge problem in podiatry. Ignorant wacko's like you. I offer nothing? What do you offer? I had the courage to speak out about how a handful of minor paperwork issues for the CPME prevented what could have been an amazing residency from developing. What have YOU done to increase residency spots?

Jellybean, how can you use the excuse that you're in no position to do anything. Neither was I. I spent countless hours finding pods willing to be attendings, meeting with several hospital chief's, finding a hospital willing to take a risk on a pod residency program. Why can't you do that too? Why can't all of you?

And after it's all said and done, fellow colleagues would want to ban me? Wow. How is this not screwed up?

not all of your fellow colleagues....well atleast not me. I believe you have a right to voice your opinion on this forum but the problem comes in how you voice it. Your posts come over as angry, resentful and downright insulting to your fellow colleagues. You make unnecessary "jabs" like "go into a career in the fast food industry" likening a pod student/resident/attending is really only fit for the most minimal of skill jobs. If you were truly trying to "help" you would take these comments/undertones out of your posts.

There is a difference between criticizing and venting anger.
 
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Podpal still hasn't answered ankle breakers questions about his/her "research". Prove you are who you say you are if you want people to respect what you post on here rather than think you're just a troll.
 
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I don't agree podpal should be banned. She(?) has the right to voice her opinion. But hopefully everyone reading the posts recognize they may be embellished due to a bad experience and hatred for the profession.

It ain't all sunshine, gum drops and flowers out there, but the doom and gloom stories need to be taken with a grain of salt as well.

But reading all of her posts, they CANNOT be serious. "TOO smart to match!?!?!?!" Soooo residency programs all pick the DUMBEST students because they have the most to learn?? This is about as nonsensical of a defense mechanism as I could possibly imagine.
 
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Sounds to me like you're the "know it all" as you say. How many residency programs have you developed? Obviously you think that starting a residency program is so easy a caveman can do it. So, I must ask, what have YOU done to start more programs? Or are you simply speaking as a brown nosing ignoramous?

I don't think starting a program is easy. You actually quoted me saying it wasn't. Like jellybean said, I haven't had the opportunity to start a program as an attending, but I have worked with the AACPM on what has been a relatively successful genesis effort. I was only speaking as someone who has an above average familiarity with the process and as someone who recognizes there have been a significant number of pods who have been successful in getting through the CPME application process.

Nice strawman/ad hominem combo though.
 
Podpal still hasn't answered ankle breakers questions about his/her "research". Prove you are who you say you are if you want people to respect what you post on here rather than think you're just a troll.
The whole point of this forum is for anonymity, or am I incorrect? If you are that interested in the piles of research papers I've developed you may PM me and I'll give some to you. None of them have to do with surgery. How about you Prove Who You Are since anonymity is obviously meaningless to you.
 
I don't agree podpal should be banned. She(?) has the right to voice her opinion. But hopefully everyone reading the posts recognize they may be embellished due to a bad experience and hatred for the profession.

It ain't all sunshine, gum drops and flowers out there, but the doom and gloom stories need to be taken with a grain of salt as well.

But reading all of her posts, they CANNOT be serious. "TOO smart to match!?!?!?!" Soooo residency programs all pick the DUMBEST students because they have the most to learn?? This is about as nonsensical of a defense mechanism as I could possibly imagine.

Thank you, as a podiatrist and colleague of yours and others on this site, I SHOULD have the right to voice my opinion. Some on this forum paint a rosey posey picture of podiatry, especially the students who are clueless about the issues that have plagued this field for decades. I try to offer solutions, I am extremely intelligent, and I can troubleshoot pretty good.

When I say that podiatry has a big problem with the administration I'm not coming from an ignorant perspective. I became entrenched in the process of residency, everything from trying to get into one, to trying to start one. There are intrinsic problems in this particular field. There are ways to fix these problems. These problems cannot be fixed with the current system of administration. It needs to be changed. CPME needs to do a reality check on their residency development process. It could be way way way easier than it currently is.

I'm not sure if the reason that residency's are not developing faster is due to the low number of residency program applications, or because some potential residency directors or attendings are not part of the inner circle of existing programs. During the process I was told that the goal was to increase the number of slots available at existing programs. So why isn't the primary goal to develop new programs? Why is new program development put on the back burner?

I believe that residency development is not an objective process. I have observed existing programs with far fewer and less diverse surgical opportunity go on year after year like nothing's wrong. You all see it, places where residents get minimum numbers and the same procedures over and over. How can a program with the diversity and numbers, as ours had, be put on hold year after year? I can only conclude that it has to do with bias and subjectivity.

Have you all taken a look at the paperwork involved? It could be so extremely simple. How hard could it be for CPME, if they were serious about residency development, to develop a simple software packet with uniform minimum rotation goals, minimum protocols, and all of the other paperwork requirements and then allow each program to modify it to fit their program? Very simple steps could solve this "crisis". That is, IF the residency crisis IS unintentional.

As far as the candidates who generally get picked for residency, it's usually middle of the road students, from what I've seen over the decades.
 
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What are you talking about? The residency genesis has created 52 new spots through adding more spots to current programs and creating many new residency programs. New programs who are affiliated with strong hospitals. The shortage is not nearly as catastrophic as it once was projected two years ago after a lackluster match rate. I'm sorry the residency genesis failed you and your personal crusade to start a program of your own but it seems to be working for many other individuals who have stepped forward to create new podiatry residency programs across the US. Become more informed about what is currently going on rather than rehashing the past over and over and over again. Podiatry is not all sunshine and rainbows, I think that's been established by many posters in the past and anyone with a brain understands that there comes a certain amount of risk when pursuing this medical career. Anyone who doesn't have some apprehension about this profession heading into podiatry school or even during school is completely clueless and uninformed.

Thank you for your sorrow. How nice. I really like your approach to this, "the shortage is not nearly as catastrophic". So you agree that there is a catastrophic residency shortage. Should there be? Why don't you quote the number of residency programs that have closed down over the past several years? Why only quote the new spots and not tell us the number of closed spots? Should prospective students have some apprehension about this profession? How much apprehension should they have? Is there more risk when pursuing this medical career over other medical careers? I would say so. What would you say?
 
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I believe that " creating" new spots vs "new spots" is the issue here. Very few "new spots" opened after the match; much more closed and there are states without a program. Not sure why that is, but pod pal is not the only one who tried to create one to no avail. Present podiatry and PM news offer dozens. If X amount of established pods try and get met with red tape, why would they bother? Why place the burden on existing programs to create new spots? What is going on here?
 
I support podpal and his or her perspective, many students and residents both here and in the field are being brainwashed by an administration that has pulled the wool over their eyes. Numbers conveniently only include the positive, never the entire picture. The shortage is catastrophic as long as it exists! As some have said here their goal seems to be expand existing programs, not form new ones!
 
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