Do you think that pod schools would include the usmle?
If Pod grads want similar status, salary, and benefits as the MD/DO, then I'm sure the USMLE addition would be a part of a Podiatry curriculum.
For what it's worth, I like the way y'all think.
And y'all aren't alone in thinking what you're thinking. Supposedly the California schools are going to be attempting the USMLE soon, presumably playing along with the joint task force (California Podiatric Medical Association, California Medical Association, and California Orthopedic Association) that's looking into potentially submitting some joint legislation in the next few years that would give podiatrists in California the same medical/surgical license as MDs and DOs. But that's all still very much in the testing phase if it happens at all and I believe the schools are paying for the exams so that they own them and if they turn out poorly the scores won't be released.
So on the one hand, how well would podiatry students actually do on the USMLE? Some podiatry schools are integrated with DOs or MDs, but even then I doubt that every DO student could pass the USMLE, let alone a podiatry student who may or may not be taking all of the DO courses. And besides that, what about the schools that aren't even affiliated with an MD or DO school?
On the other hand, we would barely have to pass. I mean, a pass is a pass. Some DO students probably couldn't pass the USMLE, and yet the fact that a good number of them do is apparently good enough to grant them practical parity. We would really only need a decent number of podiatry students to pass it (with any score) to prove the point. MDs have set up that exam and said "anyone who passes this exam is fit to be a physician", plain and simple.
But beyond all of that, there are some pretty serious problems to still contend with. Podiatrists would still need to pass the APMLE to become licensed podiatrists and passing the USMLE wouldn't let a podiatrist do an MD residency so it's usefulness would really end after the score report. Furthermore, the APMLE and USMLE—although there is a good amount of overlap—are two entirely different animals. It would be like preparing for the MCAT and the GRE at the same time (except harder) while taking a medical school courseload. They're written in different styles and are composed of different content. One glaring thing I see is that the APMLE step 1 is highly anatomy oriented (13% general anatomy and 25% lower extremity anatomy). So really you would be asking for the students, on top of their medical school courseloads to study for not one big crazy exam, but rather two different big crazy exams. And lastly, probably the largest obstacle would be cost. Throughout the course of the APMLE we will be shelling out nearly $4,000 total to get through all four components of the exam. USMLE is also over $3,000 once you add all of its component exams together. That's more than I wanna pay. That's more than anyone would want to pay for an exam that would potentially have zero direct impact on their residency placement or job prospects—I'm not saying it couldn't potentially impact those things but I'm saying currently there is no framework for USMLE to be taken into consideration for podiatric residency placement. And if you tried to get the schools or the APMA to foot the bill for 550-600 (yearly class size) podiatry students to get through the full course of the USMLE then you're talking about sinking about $2,000,000 into this idea for each class, so once it gets goin we'd be talking a yearly investment of about $2,000,000 for some score reports that probably can't prove much more than a thorough review of our curricula and training would prove anyway.
USMLE sounds appealing at first glance because it seems like a quick fix to any perceived obstacles between us and parity, and it is being looked into, but the USMLE comes with it's own set of obstacles which could further complicate the situation.
