Does it get more exciting?

[VolibearMain]

I shadowed a couple of DPMS for a few hours, so I just saw a limited aspect of podiatry but, a lot of it was just orthotics and making casts for future orthotics. A few callous shaves, and observation of a few toes that crossed each other (cant remember). Im just curious does the average day for podiatry get a little more exciting than this?

Also one thing that scared me is the clinic gave me the impression they were struggling to survive. Is it possible to work as a DPM for hospital?

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[Pronation]

Yea, that's pretty much it. Every now and then we also do a total ankle replacement.

 

[ldsrmdude]

There are some podiatrist whose practice consists mainly of "chip and clip" ie toenails and calluses. Sounds like the podiatrist you are shadowing may be one of them. I don't do "cool stuff" every day, but enough. Most general practice still see ingrown toenails, heel pain, bunions, etc on a normal basis.

As far as the clinic struggling to survive, that's certainly a possibility. There are a lot of possible reasons for that. There are a lot of practice possibilities for podiatrists, hospital-employed, private practice, orthopedic group, multi-specialty group. My best advice would be to shadow a few podiatrists in a wide variety of practice situations to get an idea for the variety of things we as podiatrists do

 

[VolibearMain]

There are some podiatrist whose practice consists mainly of "chip and clip" ie toenails and calluses. Sounds like the podiatrist you are shadowing may be one of them. I don't do "cool stuff" every day, but enough. Most general practice still see ingrown toenails, heel pain, bunions, etc on a normal basis.

As far as the clinic struggling to survive, that's certainly a possibility. There are a lot of possible reasons for that. There are a lot of practice possibilities for podiatrists, hospital-employed, private practice, orthopedic group, multi-specialty group. My best advice would be to shadow a few podiatrists in a wide variety of practice situations to get an idea for the variety of things we as podiatrists do

Thanks, I am currently working on a lot of shadowing. Ideally if I could work for a hospital and make 80k a year or more I would be happy. I just dont want to have to ever worry about keeping my business alive.

 

[VolibearMain]

Yea, that's pretty much it. Every now and then we also do a total ankle replacement.

That sounds fun, are there podiatric surgeons who truly spend more of their day performing surgeries and such?

 

[Weirdy]

That sounds fun, are there podiatric surgeons who truly spend more of their day performing surgeries and such?

Depends.

DPM I shadow has some pretty hectic days. Had one day where he had 5 surgeries.

You can focus purely on surgeries, or do a little bit of both from what I'm getting.

Also realize that getting Trauma/ER to send patients to you instead of Ortho is not as easy or readily available as it sounds. Was mentioned in a thread somewhere on Physicians/Residents forum.

 

[VolibearMain]

Depends.

DPM I shadow has some pretty hectic days. Had one day where he had 5 surgeries.

You can focus purely on surgeries, or do a little bit of both from what I'm getting.

Also realize that getting Trauma/ER to send patients to you instead of Ortho is not as easy or readily available as it sounds. Was mentioned in a thread somewhere on Physicians/Residents forum.

Interesting, my next podiatry day is tomorrow, lets see how it goes.

I could deal with a few days in clinic vs pure surgery no problem.
I just dont want to be struggling to find a job/earn a living, and dont want to be putting orthotics in patients shoes all day.

 

[Weirdy]

Interesting, my next podiatry day is tomorrow, lets see how it goes.

I could deal with a few days in clinic vs pure surgery no problem.
I just dont want to be struggling to find a job/earn a living, and dont want to be putting orthotics in patients shoes all day.

Understandable. I think most students have the same concerns.

I'm sure one of them could pop in here and give you some advice, or just PM a student.

Most pods I've talked to say the debt is manageable, even if you'll be paying it off for a long time and a large chunk of your monthly is going to it.\

If you want to expand into private practice specifically, its a lot harder. Money to buy in, unethical pushing patients like what @ExperiencedDPM , and just a bunch of other things.

There's a thread on the physician/residents page about salary and offers some pods have gotten. Might be helpful to check that out. Don't comment, just observe.

 

[plant based]

The first Podiatrist I shadowed did pretty much all chip and clip and some orthotics. He didn't do any surgery. The next Podiatrist I shadowed did a mix of both, he did about 1-2 surgeries a week, mostly bunions. Another Podiatrist travelled around the province doing mostly surgeries in various hospitals. I believe you can truly do what you want to do, as long as you work hard and market yourself well.

 

[theconzumer]

The first Podiatrist I shadowed did pretty much all chip and clip and some orthotics. He didn't do any surgery. The next Podiatrist I shadowed did a mix of both, he did about 1-2 surgeries a week, mostly bunions. Another Podiatrist travelled around the province doing mostly surgeries in various hospitals. I believe you can truly do what you want to do, as long as you work hard and market yourself well.

Curious what area are you from in Canada?

 

[plant based]

Edmonton, Alberta!

 

[plant based]

Curious what area are you from in Canada?

Edmonton, Alberta!

 

[theconzumer]

Edmonton, Alberta!

One of the more podiatry friendly province I would love to practice there!

 

[VolibearMain]

Understandable. I think most students have the same concerns.

I'm sure one of them could pop in here and give you some advice, or just PM a student.

Most pods I've talked to say the debt is manageable, even if you'll be paying it off for a long time and a large chunk of your monthly is going to it.\

If you want to expand into private practice specifically, its a lot harder. Money to buy in, unethical pushing patients like what @ExperiencedDPM , and just a bunch of other things.

There's a thread on the physician/residents page about salary and offers some pods have gotten. Might be helpful to check that out. Don't comment, just observe.

Finished my second day of shadowing, much happier. Turned out the first clinic I visited was actually successful, just very meager in spending, The owners take home 400K annually each, and have 2 junior DPMS working at their office. Pretty exciting news. (They are partner clinics). The other clinic said they make a good amount around 200, same with hospital professionals.

I saw a couple of different patients requiring surgery, but again it was alot of toe nail trimming and callous removal. My area doesnt have many diabetic foot patients thankfully due to the good health of my city.

It was quite interesting and yes I am comfortable doing it, however, that being said. I still enjoy systemic reviews of the body, (Internal medicine), and managing patients health. I thought I would be extremely interested in being in surgery all day, it is quite the opposite now. So I will have to make the decision between medical school and podiatry down the road.

 

[Weirdy]

Finished my second day of shadowing, much happier. Turned out the first clinic I visited was actually successful, just very meager in spending, The owners take home 400K annually each, and have 2 junior DPMS working at their office. Pretty exciting news. (They are partner clinics). The other clinic said they make a good amount around 200, same with hospital professionals.

I saw a couple of different patients requiring surgery, but again it was alot of toe nail trimming and callous removal. My area doesnt have many diabetic foot patients thankfully due to the good health of my city.

It was quite interesting and yes I am comfortable doing it, however, that being said. I still enjoy systemic reviews of the body, (Internal medicine), and managing patients health. I thought I would be extremely interested in being in surgery all day, it is quite the opposite now. So I will have to make the decision between medical school and podiatry down the road.

More power to you.

If you like one thing much more than the other, you'll never be able to run away from it.

Either choice you make will leave you financially stable if you work hard.

 

[VolibearMain]

More power to you.

If you like one thing much more than the other, you'll never be able to run away from it.

Either choice you make will leave you financially stable if you work hard.

I have to be honest with you, trimming nails is easy work. The pay is decent for the moderate hours podiatrists have to work. I am pretty happy with it. I am below the cut for US MD programs, and I do not want a DO degree. I was decently happy with Podiatry so I will probably take it (If I get in hehe)

 

[Weirdy]

I have to be honest with you, trimming nails is easy work. The pay is decent for the moderate hours podiatrists have to work. I am pretty happy with it. I am below the cut for US MD programs, and I do not want a DO degree. I was decently happy with Podiatry so I will probably take it (If I get in hehe)

Any specific reason you don't want a DO? Or is this due to outside pressures such as family?

DOs are synonymous with MD while I was shadowing in the hospital as well as multispecialty groups. While the course work may be marginally different, by the time you get into the professional realm and working, there is negligible difference.

 

[VolibearMain]

Any specific reason you don't want a DO? Or is this due to outside pressures such as family?

DOs are synonymous with MD while I was shadowing in the hospital as well as multispecialty groups. While the course work may be marginally different, by the time you get into the professional realm and working, there is negligible difference.

Opportunity to practice in Europe and Asia, and matches. DO is designed for primary care. Everyone has their own opinion and each residency program looks at things differently but the general consensus is US MD will make it much easier than DO to match into something like plastics etc for example.

 

[slimjim27]

I shadowed a couple of DPMS for a few hours, so I just saw a limited aspect of podiatry but, a lot of it was just orthotics and making casts for future orthotics. A few callous shaves, and observation of a few toes that crossed each other (cant remember). Im just curious does the average day for podiatry get a little more exciting than this?

Also one thing that scared me is the clinic gave me the impression they were struggling to survive. Is it possible to work as a DPM for hospital?

I would recommend trying to shadow a podiatrist at one of your local hospitals or find one at a local ortho group. There are many podiatrists that work in orthopedic clinics/ hospital settings that do a ton of the foot and ankle surgeries. This will show you another side of the profession. There are a number of podiatrists that work in a private practice setting where they don't do much surgery, but there is a whole other side of the profession as well if you decide to go the surgical route. We are all required to do a 3 year surgical residency after school, but that wasn't always the case so some older Podiatrists in a private practice setting may not do as much surgery.

As for them struggling to survive, that is just private practices in general. Private practice is a difficult business to be in regardless of your specialty. It is just like starting any other business, there are risks involved and not everyone makes it.