Why isn't DPM more popular? 4 years schooling, 3 years residency, and salaries can start around 200-300k.
$200-300 is a bit high for starting pod salaries. That's more along the lines of overall average pod salaries. MGMA 2010 report had average general podiatrist salary at $216,611 and average surgical podiatrist salary at $287,449.
You should check out this thread. It's not too lengthy.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/podiatry.1215729/#post-18024614
I don't know much about podiatry but here are two possible reasons:
1. Feet =/= ortho
2. There's supposedly a residency crunch
Because DPM has nothing to do with ortho?
And as Wedge said, I believe they are currently graduating more students than available residency slots.
1. Feet and ankles have bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and lots of them. In most states podiatrists can perform surgeries at the distal tibia/fibula (like 47 states) and in some states up to the tibial tuberosity. Foot and ankle orthopedics may not equal full body orthopedics but it is still orthopedics. The thing is though that there are relatively few podiatrists who fill their time with nothing but foot and ankle orthopedic surgical cases, so it would certainly be a bad idea to go into podiatry hoping for that outcome.
2. There was a residency crunch maybe 10 years ago, but not anymore. Unlike many professions, podiatry self regulates quite well. They put a moratorium on opening new schools, capped class sizes, and initiated a residency genesis program. In this past match, 97.8% of graduating podiatrists got residencies. There is currently about a 4% surplus in active residency spots (compared to graduating class size) with the residency genesis goal of getting to 10% surplus. The thing is that there was a residency shortage not too many years ago and so some of these surplus spots have been going towards working those people who got screwed before through the system. As of this year, there are 36 graduates that do not have residencies. They will be worked through within the next couple of cycles and then the residency system will be at a surplus of spots, plain and simple.
In comparison, the residency match rate for MDs is historically 92-95% and this year it was 93.8% for new MD grads and 80.3% for DOs. So, really, if landing a residency is a concern, then that's an argument for DPM, not against it.
http://www.casprcrip.org/html/casprcrip/pdf/PlacementUpdate.pdf
http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Main-Match-Results-and-Data-2016.pdf
Right, but if you could gain admission to med school, you'll most likely be top of your DPM class, hopefully leading to better residencies.
Perhaps, but not necessarily. I got a 32 MCAT and while I think I'm near the top of my pod class, I don't think I'm at THE TOP. Keep in mind that most of the pod schools are directly affiliated with MD or DO schools. Some pod schools are integrated, with DPM students taking most or all of the basic sciences with DO or MD students and being graded on the same curve. Most of the other schools at least have the same PhD and MD professors for basic sciences as the affiliated MD/DO schools and it is rigorous. In just biochem we're going through 350 slides (9-10 chapters) per week easy (our other current classes aren't as slide/book based and are harder to quantify). General anatomy we still have to learn and dissect full body anatomy, including cross sections from the head down to the toes. A walk in the park it is not.
I think DPMs that start at 200k+ are few and far between.
You are correct, but $200,000 not too far off. The APMA 2015 young physician's survey reports an average salary for podiatrists with 1-5 years of experience was $172,577 including bonuses.
I read in another thread that a big downside to podiatry is the length of training. It requires as many years of training as some medical specialties, but it's not as flexible in terms of things you can do with that degree.
It requires as many years of training as some medical specialties because it is a medical specialty and likewise it is as broad in scope as any other medical specialty. I suppose what you meant is that from the start you know where you'll end up, but that's not necessarily a bad thing either. At least every podiatrist knows that they'll get into a surgical residency and be able to perform at least some amount of surgeries once they're in practice. In MD/DO school, you get some degree of choice but in the end you match where you match, for better or for worse. MDs and especially DOs have to work their butts off for USMLE because how they perform will directly determine which specialties they might get into. For DPMs, as long as you pass everything, you know from the start exactly what kind of residency you'll get into. That coupled with the fact that there are proportionally more residencies to go around for podiatrists takes a lot of stress out of the first four years.
DPMs practice as independent foot and ankle surgeons, with full prescription rights, admitting privileges, etc. To say that a podiatrist wouldn't need the extra time to rotate through family medicine, infectious disease, general surgery, orthopedics, etc. would be to say that no medical specialty needs the extra time to rotate outside of their specialty.
I certainly wouldn't want a doctor or a surgeon working on me unsupervised who went through fewer than four years of medical school or fewer than three years of residency or that completely isolated themself from the rest of medicine during their training.
Education and training like that is nearly priceless and I would say it's a pro of modern podiatry, not a con.
