Do younger Podiatrists tend to do more surgery?

[benji808]

I am shadowing an older podiatrist right now, I believe he's in his 50s. He graduated in the 80s and never completed the mandatory residency as it is now. In my few weeks of shadowing him, I have seen a wide range of patients, but most of them have had problems dealing with nerve damage, calluses, ankle sprains, rashes, etc. The podiatrist I am shadowing says he mostly gets older patients and diabetes cases these days. He performs surgery, on average, maybe once a month. I am just wondering, has this changed with the younger podiatrists? Do younger podiatrists tend to do more surgery? A big reason I am really interested in Podiatry is the ability to balance a clinical and surgical specialty while maintaining a relatively lower stress lifestyle when compared to say an internist or orthopedist.

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[FootAndAnkle]

I am shadowing an older podiatrist right now, I believe he's in his 50s. He graduated in the 80s and never completed the mandatory residency as it is now. In my few weeks of shadowing him, I have seen a wide range of patients, but most of them have had problems dealing with nerve damage, calluses, ankle sprains, rashes, etc. The podiatrist I am shadowing says he mostly gets older patients and diabetes cases these days. He performs surgery, on average, maybe once a month. I am just wondering, has this changed with the younger podiatrists? Do younger podiatrists tend to do more surgery? A big reason I am really interested in Podiatry is the ability to balance a clinical and surgical specialty while maintaining a relatively lower stress lifestyle when compared to say an internist or orthopedist.

As a student, most podiatrists I've seen, even including those that are older, perform surgical procedures at least weekly. I did see a couple like the one you're describing, but they're more in wind-down mode.

 

[ldsrmdude]

I am shadowing an older podiatrist right now, I believe he's in his 50s. He graduated in the 80s and never completed the mandatory residency as it is now. In my few weeks of shadowing him, I have seen a wide range of patients, but most of them have had problems dealing with nerve damage, calluses, ankle sprains, rashes, etc. The podiatrist I am shadowing says he mostly gets older patients and diabetes cases these days. He performs surgery, on average, maybe once a month. I am just wondering, has this changed with the younger podiatrists? Do younger podiatrists tend to do more surgery? A big reason I am really interested in Podiatry is the ability to balance a clinical and surgical specialty while maintaining a relatively lower stress lifestyle when compared to say an internist or orthopedist.

I don't know that this depends on age per se. The podiatrist that does the most surgery that I know has been in practice for around 20 years and is about 50.

Some podiatrists that didn't do a surgical residency took courses and got informal training, and do a fair amount of surgery. Same goes for pods that only did a year of residency or a non-surgical residency. But, since all graduating podiatrists now have a minimum of 3 years of surgical training, it makes sense that they tend to be more surgically oriented. I know nothing about the podiatrist you have been shadowing other than what you posted, but there are a few possible explanations. He may simply not like to do surgery. He may not feel comfortable doing it. He may just not see the patients that need surgery in his practice (there can be a lot of reasons why this would happen). He may be winding down, as @FootAndAnkle suggests.