Hello,
... I'd rather seeing all 8 pod schools taking the MCAT as the sole admissions test. I'd like for some of the schools to stop accepting underqualified students...
No school ever "knows" a student will fail out. Some people who goofed off in college will mature and work harder in grad school, and some undergrad 3.5 GPA students worked very hard but just don't have the natural talent to compensate for the pace of a medical program. Still, I totally agree the admissions standards could increase, and I also believe they will as podiatric education continues to improve.
Resolution 2015 (maybe run a search for more info) is the APMA's idea to make DPM education increasingly similar and eventually on the same level as MD/DO within the next 8 years. "Parity" is the word they use a lot. The start of that parallel is making the MCAT the sole admission test. Pod schools already have a 4 year program, similar clinical hours, similar sciences, board exams, etc. A final touch to the resolution may be setting firm application deadlines and having podiatry students and graduates take the USMLE or at least having the same testing agency administer the podiatry boards. We'll see as the plan continues...
Sorry if you know all this, but it's just basic background and I'm gonna hit the high points:
-100 yrs ago, the first pod school (NYCPM) was just a 1yr program requiring a prerequisite of 1yr of high school.
-By 1950, all pod schools were 4 year programs which required at least one year of college for admittance.
-In 1965, the degree granted by schools was unified to "D.P.M." and the first podiatric residencies were approved.
-In 1977, podiatrists were permitted to perform hospital OR surgery and admit and patients.
-In 1978, it became standard pod school admission requirement that 3+ years of college were required and the MCAT became preferred.
The above background timeline was baically a paraphrasing of:
Principles and Practice of Podiatric Medicine 2nd Ed (2006)
Chapter 1: The Evolution of Podiatric Medical Practice and Formal Education: Chronological History
by Leonard A. Levy, DPM, MPH
http://www.nova.edu/cwis/com/faculty/levy.html
*End of facts/ start of my take on it:
It shouldn't be hard to see that podiatry has evolved pretty fast to fit a niche. 50 or even 30 years ago, podiatrists were significantly less trained than MDs. Unfortunately, that notion of podiatrists being chip-and-clip nursing home or small office technicians persists today; it is still believed to be true and promoted by some individuals. Even 15 or 20 years ago, only the top few DPM graduates from each school were offered residency training program - typically one year.
Today, residency programs and the education has increased to basically parallel MD/DO education. By now, Podiatrists are defined as physicians almost everywhere it counts: almost all insurance plans and nearly every major govenment program (military, Medicare, Medicaid, etc). The focus of pod school is, of course, podiatry focused, and the podiatry graduates typically come out of school significantly better in lower extremity anatomy, slightly superior in radiology, yet significantly less knowledgeable in neuroanatomy and slightly or significantly less apt in other basic sciences depending on the pod and/or allopathic school(s) in question. Those testing differences may exist due to less qualified applicants to the podiatry schools than those who typically apply to MD/DO programs.
Improved recruiting and more knowledge of the current podiatric medical education is likely to continue to improve the applicant pools and graduate knowledge levels; time will tell. Scope of practice for podiatrists is also likely to continue its improvement as the competence of graduates and the general awareness of that competence increases in the medical field.
