Are seniors & nursing homes popular side incomes for pods?

[dr.phoot]

I work in a seniors home and 4/5 of the seniors are all wearing custom made shoes (most likely designed/recommended by a pod).

There's also a pod that has weekly scheduled visits to come to the home.

I haven't had the chance to meet him yet, but I'm just curious. Is this a popular / common "side job" for a pod? I figured there's no way one will get their daily bread from doing just a nursing home alone but they can certainly get a little extra.

How common are these kind of jobs? Are they easy to get? What's the experience like? Any politics with the nursing home administration?

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[ExperiencedDPM]

Yes, it is a way to supplement income, but personally it's something I chose not to do. In my opinion it reinforces the negative connotation of a DPM. Go to a nursing home and watch an 18 year old local medical assistant school grad clipping the patient's fingernails while you went to 4 years of professional school and 3 years of residency training to be at the foot of the bed, breaking your back clipping toenails. Then you go to a party and tell everyone you're a foot and ankle surgeon. Make sure you get that flying toenail clipping out of your hair first!!

I know guys making big money at nursing homes flying from bed to bed. I personally have witnessed the majority of these guys going bed to bed with one or two pairs of nippers and no way to sterilize or disinfect the instruments. It's disgusting and sets medicine back 50 years.

There is a huge amount of fraud with nursing home care and it's rampant. Yes, I know that it's a needed service, blah, blah, blah , but it's certainly not what I signed up for so I opted out of that aspect. If you do get involved, please remember that these patients deserve the same care as your family, which they often don't get. They are fragile and vulnerable.

 

[NatCh]

Nooooooo thanks, not for me. Some doctors do nursing homes in order to pay the bills when they're getting their private practice off the ground but I wouldn't call it desirable work. It can produce a very large income though. I actually do almost no nail care any more. I have one patient who's 98 y/o with dementia and I still treat her, but that's it.

 

[dr.phoot]

Nooooooo thanks, not for me. Some doctors do nursing homes in order to pay the bills when they're getting their private practice off the ground but I wouldn't call it desirable work. It can produce a very large income though. I actually do almost no nail care any more. I have one patient who's 98 y/o with dementia and I still treat her, but that's it.

Why not for you? (If you don't mind sharing)

And it sounds like this is a really solid "extra" income. Even if I'm not running a private practice I'll certainly do something like this on the side.

 

[heybrother]

Without even touching nursing homes, people with great practices don't need to head to the nursing home to grind. They are already financially, professionally, and personally fulfilled.

 

[NatCh]

Why not for you? (If you don't mind sharing)

And it sounds like this is a really solid "extra" income. Even if I'm not running a private practice I'll certainly do something like this on the side.

I've debrided enough fungal nails in the past 17 years of being in practice that I don't really care to do it any more. My practice is established enough that I've focused on doing just the things I enjoy (ingrown toenails, surgery, sports medicine) and not the things I don't enjoy (diabetic foot care, wound care, C&C). I've developed a niche with the local athletic community and get more professional fulfillment out of treating that patient population (although treating pro/elite athletes is demanding in its own way).

There's nothing inherently wrong with doing nursing home work. There's a need there and a lot of podiatrists enjoy it. It's just not for me. Yes, you can make quite a bit of income doing it.

 

[dtrack22]

It also affords Natch more time on the slopes...

Looks like it's been dumping the last few days too

 

[NatCh]

It also affords Natch more time on the slopes...

Looks like it's been dumping the last few days too

Heck yeah. I just got in my 20th day of skiing/snowboarding today. Blower pow face shots all morning, ingrown nails and alcohol sclerosing shots all afternoon.

 

[feetish]

Thanks for the insight. Can you elaborate on what "quite a bit" of income entails? Also, any experience in caring for inmates at prisons?

 

[NatCh]

I don't have a number to give you but some docs do nothing other than nursing homes and make a decent living. It depends how many patients you're able to see (and how ethical you are -- see ExDPM's post above).

The only prisoners I've worked on were brought to the clinic during residency while on rotation through one of the native American reservations. I recall one prisoner was a yuge motherscratcher who totally looked the part. The guard decided to leave the room and go chat up the receptionist. There was a scalpel on the counter and I kept thinking to myself, "so this is how it ends."