I'm looking into several fields, but I'm not a 100% on any of them. Podiatry is very specific from the get go.
How did you know it was for you?
How did you know it was for you?
How did you know Podiatry is for you?
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i think it is hard to express why it was initially. It is hard because you know so little, just like how you know so little about any other specialty. But, I promise you this: not once in my 2 years of schooling have I ever thought I made the wrong choice. It keeps getting better and better as I begin to get exposed to the field.
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Have you shadowed/spent any significant time with the specialties you've explored? That's really the only way you can truly judge whether any field will interest you.
I always thought I wanted to be a dentist, since I was about the age of 4. When I finally shadowed a few dentists I realized that I had absolutely NO interest in spending my day working in someone's mouth all day.
Therefore, it's imperative you spend a fair amount of time with several doctors in each specialty to make sure you obtain a fair cross-section and to also assure you are being influenced by the merits of the actual profession itself and not the personality of the doctor(s) you are shadowing.
I always thought I wanted to be a dentist, since I was about the age of 4. When I finally shadowed a few dentists I realized that I had absolutely NO interest in spending my day working in someone's mouth all day.
Therefore, it's imperative you spend a fair amount of time with several doctors in each specialty to make sure you obtain a fair cross-section and to also assure you are being influenced by the merits of the actual profession itself and not the personality of the doctor(s) you are shadowing.
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From age 10 I built radio controlled models, the career was a nice progression of cutting/trimming things. Plus all the other stuff like love of science, goal of family values, etc.
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Have you built and tried to learn to fly an R/C Helicopter yet?
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This is true to a point. You can work less hours and be successful, however, success does not always equate with number of hours worked.
There is one point that does come up over and over again on this forum, and I believe is a common "myth". That evolves around the idea that as DPM's we somehow our work is less demanding than other medical fields, etc.
That will all depend upon the type of practice you develop or enter and how busy you are in that practice. We have a very busy practice and we just hired another doctor, yet we all work significantly longer work weeks than 40 hours.
If you plan on performing surgery and handling complicated cases, patients don't always have complications or obtain injuries during "convenient" times. If you cover hospitals for consults, other doctors don't always request your expertise/services/opinions during "convenient" times.
I worked 7 days this week since it was my on-call weekend. I was called on 3 separate occassions to see patients at two different hospitals by 3 different doctors. That's in addition to the 5 in-house patients I had to see.
Yes, you can certainly have more of a boutique practice. Two of the patients I saw in the hospital today DID have podiatrists who were previously treating these patients. When things went bad, these DPM's told the patient to go to the nearest emergency room, and then the patient ended up being referred to our group. We don't do that to our patients, if a patient has a serious problem and needs hospitalization, WE admit them or send them to the ER at one of our hospitals for admission to our service.
But you don't have to choose that path. You can easily work that 40 hour or less work week, but if emergencies call (and they do) or you have an active hospital practice, be prepared to up those hours. Sometimes it's a little tiring, but it's very rewarding and it's nice to know that we are there for our patients and apparently also there for a lot of other doctors patients.
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I didn't mean any offense, PADPM. I don't believe "working less" is synonymous with "less demanding". Most of the DPMs I shadowed worked between 30-50 hours a week. Certainly everyone can work more than that.
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No offense was taken. But if you read some prior posts, there really has been a recurring misconception that our profession requires less hours than most other medical professions.
As per my post, that can be true depending on what type of practice you enter or you develop. My partners and I certainly aren't married to our work, but we are busy and have made a decision to not send our patients "out" when there is a problem (of course we do refer out for vascular concerns or problems outside our scope of practice), and don't "dump" on other doctors for work we can or should be doing.
That's simply our decision, and anyone is certainly free to practice how they want, which can ultimately lead to fewer hours per week.
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If you enjoy cutting the corners out of an incurvated nail and possibly digging out any lint that may be left behind, then podiatry is most certainly for you.
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Nice. There are already enough people who believe that's all we do, we don't need those within the profession perpetuating that myth. Yeah, I know.......you were only joking.
P.S. Not funny
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1. I was only half joking, and it was funny.
2. If someone honestly hates debriding nails, they are going to be absolutely MISERABLE during at least their 3rd year of school, some of their 4th, and depending on their practice, possibly the rest of their career.
3. For many practitioners, it's not a myth: it's "bread and butter podiatry".
4. I didn't write that's all we do. You were hypersensitive to that particular subject and decided to take offense, because "I've been in practice for 40 years and I treat every imaginable foot deformity known to man". Congrats to you sir, but the young candidate needs to know that nail debridement comes with the territory. If you have a problem with how the public views podiatry, contact the APMA and suggest they spend more of our yearly dues and contributions on public education. Patronizing a younger member in our profession isn't nearly as effective at achieving that goal as you may think. I, too, cringe every time I hear a patient mistakenly assume that we only perform pedicures, but I don't yell at a 1st year student if they crack a joke about it.
Lighten up.
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Really? Not funny.
If someone does toenail debridement as their "bread and butter", especailly as a young practitioner, they will starve. If they hate it, they shouldn't be a podiatrist. It's the roots of our profession and we all do it. Believe it or not, sometimes after a really busy day of dealing with complicated pathology, some of us look forward to our "regulars" who we've known for years, and come in to shoot the breeze with us while we do their "at risk" foot care.
Maybe hearing the"pedicure" joke is funny as a 1st year student hearing it for the first time, but as an attending hearing it for the eight thousandth time from a 1st year student, it gets old. Very old. If it makes you cringe as a student, imagine how someone who has been in the profession for twenty years and has laid the foundation for YOU to advance in the field, must feel.
I always love when a faceless, nameless internet avatar gives me advice like "lighten up". It does wonders for their credibility on these forums.
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Despite your condescending remarks and tongue in cheek comments, we actually agree on several issues (!):
1. If you hate cutting nails, you shouldn't even consider being a podiatrist.
2. Nail debridement isn't the only skill that a podiatrist knows, although many patients make that incorrect assumption.
3. I am pretty hilarious
4. Nail care is very helpful (and necessary) for some patients, and the "regulars" that we see and get to know personally make the job even more fulfilling.
However, there are several disagreements as well, the first of which I stand by the firmest:
1.
This varies by state. Perhaps in your state (as it is in mine) you are correct, but in a wonderful place like, say, Florida, that pays ~$130 for nail care, a podiatrist can make a very comfortable living doing almost exclusively debridements. (Notice that I am not judging anyone who does this, I am simply bringing it up as an example.)
2. Jokes that you've heard more than once are annoying and the person who brings them up should be berated for even mentioning the subject.
Case in point: I worked as a phlebotomist for 9 months before I attended podiatry school. Not a single day passed that some patient didn't make some sort of "vampire" reference, be it clever or not. Did I get pissy when my newer colleagues who were training under me brought it up and laughed about it? Heck no, I laughed right along with them, because it's all about your attitude and how you approach your work. I could have chosen to be bitter about it and just roll my eyes, but I chose the less serious and more enjoyable route. I had some of my best laughs with my senior colleagues regarding the same subject. Taking personal offense to a very, very benign comment is a waste of time and energy.
3. It's important to build credibility on these forums.
Anyway, as you can see, we agree more than we disagree Kidsfeet. I respect your opinion, even when I don't happen to agree with it. But the word and opinion of attendings aren't always law, and there's not ever a need to patronize someone because you think their opinion (or joke or T-shirt or sexual orientation) is stupid.
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1) Something is only funny if your audience thinks it's funny.
2) I don't know why you decided to put this in quotes "I've been in practice for 40 years and I treat every imaginable foot deformity known to man", since those words NEVER came out of my mouth AND I haven't been in practice even close to 40 years. Not even close.
3) I'm not "hypersensitive" to anything. I just believe that our profession has a lot more to offer than trimming crud out of toenail corners and the original poster didn't need to hear that as something that is the foundation of all practices. And please don't tell me what to do if I have a problem with the way the public views podiatry. I've been there and done that already. I've served on APMA committees on various levels and I've served on committess for the ACFAS and was active with the ABPS, so I don't need you to tell me what to do, I've already done that...
But how do you expect the public to think more of our profession when those within the profession are taking jabs?
4) And I did no "yelling", I simply expressed my opinion on your comments which I believed where inappropriate without some type of follow up or explanation.
D
dyk343
I checked out of here for a few days due to final exams... glad to see the unproductive pissing matches are still in full heat. Represent your professions well... outsiders read this board.
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I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or taking a shot at me. I don't consider my comments a pissing match, but do consider my comments aimed at representing the profession well, by recommending that those within the profession refrain from making degrading comments about our profession.
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For me, my biggest thing was that I wanted to do surgery. Secondly, I'm interested in the musculoskeletal system, and would rather die than be a gen practitioner (i think what they do is great, but after shadowing one for awhile, I didn't want that to be my life). Thirdly, I have flat feet (or should i say.. pes pancakus)
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If you're getting $130 for nail care every 62 days as per Medicare guidelines for every patient, you are billing incorrectly and might find yourself on the really bad end of a Medicare audit where they will ask for a heaping amount of money back and potential more serious charges.
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You mean like telling someone to "lighten up", right?
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I know I've been out a few years, but that must be a new biomechanical term that I missed along the way. Similar to the patient I saw the other day who said he had "heel sperms".😱
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haha no it was a joke that my biomech professor used in lecture, being that some feet are so flat that they're like pancakes
I have a question, that I have been trying to search for the past 3 hours and haven't gotten a clear answer on, so I am giving up and have decided to post it on here: Do podiatrist do actual surgery? Can someone please explain. Thank you!
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Yes, foot and ankle surgery. I did a cavus foot reconstruction last week and am on call at a couple hospitals this week so I'll probably do some trauma surgery and some amputations.
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Yes, for a little more information, the two largest organizations associated with podiatry and surgery are the American Board of Podiatric Surgery and the American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons. You may want to "google" these organizations for some information.
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Scazi88: I see that you're pre-dent on here, so I think you and I are pretty similar. I imagine one of the reasons you're thinking about Dentistry is the surgery that they are disposed to (hence my name). A really cool resource to check out is www.podiatrylive.com Getting an account there is free and you can see a lot of cool surgeries on that website that pods perform. I started out as pre-dent like yourself, but I'm almost 100% on the podiatry train right now. I've found that podiatry offers everything that the dental route offers, but even more.
Also, if you're interested in the Oral and Maxillofacial route for dentistry, just remember its only about the top 10%-5% of the class that actually gets a residency!
Anyways, check out podiatry live, it's sweet.
