Doesn't Podiatrist=Foot specialist?

[niko327]

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I am not a podiatrist or podiatry student, but I do have alot of respect for what podiatrists do. I remember visiting a podiatrist several years ago for a painful foot problem and have been grateful for the relief of pain ever since. I am surprised that some people constantly bash the profession. It seems to me that many people who attend medical school will go on to specialize in a particular body system or anatomical region anyway. How is this really different from podiatry, at least podiatry students already know they want to be specialists in the lower extremities. If a pt has a heart problem they should eventually see a cardiologist, Kidney problem should see a nephrologist, hand problems should see a hand specialist/surgeon. Wouldn't you agree that podiatrists are foot specialists/surgeons. Wouldn't you rather see a specialist for your particular problem than a generalist. For those of you who say that Podiatrists are not real physicians because they haven't had the full med school curriculum, try asking a hand surgeon to manage your dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Certainly he has had the full med school curriculum and then some, but it is doubtful he remembers all the minutiae of gynecology and is hardly qualified to treat such a problem. Podiatrists are specialists and deserve just as much respect as a heart, or lung, or hand specialist. Maybe the hostility comes from those who wish their profession would take a vectored approach to teaching a specialty, or from those who wish to affirm their imagined superiority. I'd love to think that the hostility is based in the subconscious mind something like we viewing the feet as the lowest part of ourselves both physically and spiritually, thus considering a profession that deals with feet unworthy of admiration and respect (yeah, I'm reaching big time). This nutty explanation would in the very least explain some of the nasty comments. I'd hate to think there are that many egotistical jerks on SDN. Just my $0.02

 

[ProdPod]

If you look at it, there are only about two people who write in constantly, every morning and night to bash podiatry. We have spodok, who gets more angry every time I don't respond to his routine stupidity, that is some abused person that seeks some kind of revenge on the internet. You have to feel sorry for someone like this b/c for him to breath, he MUST attack people. This man belongs in a correctional facility before he figures out that we just don't care about what he has to say and decides to move his antics from the internet to the street. 😱

 

[gdk420]

http://www.acinet.org/acinet/oview5.asp?from=National&Level=Overall&soccode=&stfips=

According to this link, podiatrist make about 95K a year, so I really don't understand why everyone is bashing the profession myself. Here is a link that describes the outlook of podiatry and what it does.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos075.htm

 

[diabeticfootdr]

I also found this:

APMA DAILY eNEWS
Friday, May 21, 2004 (No. 1,616)

Podiatry is the 11th highest paid occupation in America, according to the data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last week. According to BLS, 7,800 podiatric physicians earn $106,430, on average.

The BLS compared 770 different occupations for May, 2003. Of the 11 that earned more than $100,000 a year, nine were physician specialties.

The top ten were surgeons ($190,280), anesthesiologists ($184,880), obstetricians and gynecologists ($180,600), internists ($160,130), pediatricians ($143,300), chief executives ($140,580), family practitioners ($139,640), psychiatrists ($139,300), dentists ($131,210), and attorneys ($107,800).

Podiatrists and dentists earned slightly less, on average, than in 2002 while the rest of the highest-paid occupations saw small increases in earnings.

Lee C. Rogers (DPM on Saturday)