Negativity on Other Pod Forums

[alparkeruab]

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I was looking at another pod forum at http://www.network54.com/Forum/23927/ and was amazed by the negativity and anger at the pod profession in general. What is the deal with that forum? Do most of the posters over there bring up legitimate points/concerns, or are they full of it??

I guess my real question is should I pay more attention to the info from this site or other, more negative, sites that I have found?

 

[phpodguy]

Here's a disclaimer I found at the bottom of the site you mentioned:

"All Prospective Students should be aware that in a forum of this nature, more negative comments about podiatry will exists and sentiments expressed by posters does not necessarily reflect the profession as a whole. If posts on the PF seem to be of a negative nature, it is not by design. The intent of the webmaster and moderators is to facilitate positive constructivism and create a podiatric community through cooperation. Therefore, the comments expressed on the PF are solely the opinion of the poster and by appearing in the PF and chatroom do not constitute any approval by the webmaster or moderator. Individuals considering a career in podiatric medicine should not rely on messages/posters in the PF to form the basis of their decision to enter the field."

I made the mistake of clicking the link, and that site's truly depressing. Why do the moderators even keep the site going? I swear that 2/3 of the posts are by the same person arguing with himself--evident by the same misspellings and horrible grammar--and most of the posts are neither informative nor coherent.

At least on SDN, the posts are legible. The posts here are more positive because the people posting are younger and their attitudes are reflective of their positive experiences. I get the impression that podiatry has gained momentum as a profession and the education is getting better and better as time goes on. Most of the people on that other site are older, and most of them talk about completing their education in the 70's--which might not have been as positive an experience as it is now. Also, there's no way to determine if the people posting at that site are truly pods or just some 40 year old unemployed guy trying to rile people up on the internet from his mom's basement.

I definitely think that SDN does a great service to prospective pods, but you should only use internet forums as a supplement to better forms of research because there's no way to determine if the posters are truly a representative sample of the pod population. Go out and shadow as many pods as possible and ask them a lot of questions!😀

 

[Dr_Feelgood]

I was looking at another pod forum at http://www.network54.com/Forum/23927/ and was amazed by the negativity and anger at the pod profession in general. What is the deal with that forum? Do most of the posters over there bring up legitimate points/concerns, or are they full of it??

I guess my real question is should I pay more attention to the info from this site or other, more negative, sites that I have found?

If you search SDN you will find we have discussed this topic before. I'll give you the quick and dirty from the discussions, but if you'd like you can search to find the complete discussion.

Some forums reflect the change face of podiatry. Pods in the past had a great degree of variance b/c of the variety of training. In the past pods were not required to go through a residency program and there were not enough residencies for all of the pod grads. So some pods practice as more of a chiropodist (nail and callus trimming, orthotics, some wound care) and some were surgeons. Well those with less training felt cheated b/c they made less money. Resentment and jealousy set in and now they talk bad about the profession.

Other people complain b/c they wanted to be MDs but "gave up" and became a pods. They are unhappy about there choice in life. Usually this issue is compounded w/ a lack of training. Again, jealousy and resentment b/c of their choices not b/c of a flaw in podiatry.

 

[jonwill]

I was looking at another pod forum at http://www.network54.com/Forum/23927/ and was amazed by the negativity and anger at the pod profession in general. What is the deal with that forum? Do most of the posters over there bring up legitimate points/concerns, or are they full of it??

I guess my real question is should I pay more attention to the info from this site or other, more negative, sites that I have found?

I've seen a few of those forums and it seems that it is the same small handful of pods complaining about the same things over and over. Their complaints are seldom valid and usually reflect their poor training and attitudes. Out of 15,000 podiatrists, only a few are complaining. I'd say that's pretty good!

This is just my opinion but you have to remember that 10-15 years ago, the schools really let the profession down by admitting way too many students. This resulted in not having enough residency programs for everyone. I believe that competition is healthy and the better residency programs should go to the all-around better students but some of those students just flat out got screwed. And while they should still share some of the blame, I'd be pretty upset if I were one of them. I have found that these people make up a large majority of the podiatry critics.

Still another problem is that some schools will admit just about anybody with a pulse. Unfortunately, that sometimes attracts the wrong kind of student. Podiatry is not a short-cut or an easy way to become a doctor and make boat loads of money. A student that did poorly in college and did poorly on the mcat is probably not going to do very well in podiatry school. This will most likely lead to mediocre residency training and not a lot of big job offers. I think this is a BIG problem with our profession.

The bottom line is that if you are an intelligent, highly motivated, hard working student, you will do very well in the profession. As podiatry and its training has become more main stream medicine over the years, there is a ton of opportunity out there. On the other hand, those expecting to "eek" their way through and become a rich, successful doctor are going to be soarly disappointed.

 

[Far Cry]

What are some of the schools that have offered the sub-par education that has been mentioned in the above submissions? What are their past reputations and which are ones to avoid?

 

[Dr_Feelgood]

What are some of the schools that have offered the sub-par education that has been mentioned in the above submissions? What are their past reputations and which are ones to avoid?

This is a tough question b/c each poster choose their school for a reason. If you'd like to research this issue just search SDN for pod school rankings.

But on that subject things have greatly changed in the pod education and even the top programs were part of the problem not the solution in the 80s. Some of the schools have really dedicated themselves to the best interest of the student. This is evident in the class sizes. I personally do not believe in 100 student class sizes. It hurts the quality of the class and frankly floods the market with more pods. If every school took about 50 to 60, we would all make more money when we were done w/ school b/c their would not be a pod on every corner.

When schools take large classes it is for the money not the student. They also lose a lot of students or have poor board pass rates b/c they take less qualified applicants.

 

[MrFeeties]

I find this subversive theme about "being a doctor, making alot of money..." interesting. Do people realize that a good number of physicians really don't make that much money? Sure we're in a 'cottage' industry and a doctor will almost always live comfortable life if they choose, but very few become rich unless they patent something. Overall, a podiatrist will make just as much if not more money in many cases than our MD counterparts. It's about the lifestyle you choose and how hard you work.

**** I'd rather be famous than rich anyway, at least that way I might have a shot at celebrity jeopardy or the surreal life.

 

[defboy]

I have been to network54 and was scared silly and ran back to the premed blogs and other pod blogs to get comparisons. I was not looking for the answer to my questions when it came. I work FT as a custodial supervisor at my school and during an evaluation with one of the hourly personel the topic of medicine came up-he knew I wanted to enter the medical profession. He ranted and raved about how it was a corrupt and lost system. I asked him why he had such resentment? It was like reading the net54 all over again. He had wanted to be a doctor and had not gotten in but chiro school took him and he was "dealt a bad hand" among other things. He is working for $9 hr. cleaning(someone has to do it-it is a job and pays bills I do it to) but his problem with medicine and especially chiro was he was "promised" something and it didn't happen(lots of $) and now it is the schools, admissions, and medical fields fault for his failure in life. I could rant and rave about my last job that made me go back to school but it won't make me any happier or make anyone feel better about themselves; which is what these lonely folks think they are doing-releaving their stress and short coming on a blog site and finding entertainment in hostile comments. they post so much because that feeling of estacy can only last so long. sorry I sound like I am ranting and raving but I just would rather talk to someone that loves what they do rather than someone who hates it. look at success to succeed or at failure and how not to go it.

 

[Podman]

I have been to network54 and was scared silly and ran back to the premed blogs and other pod blogs to get comparisons. I was not looking for the answer to my questions when it came. I work FT as a custodial supervisor at my school and during an evaluation with one of the hourly personel the topic of medicine came up-he knew I wanted to enter the medical profession. He ranted and raved about how it was a corrupt and lost system. I asked him why he had such resentment? It was like reading the net54 all over again. He had wanted to be a doctor and had not gotten in but chiro school took him and he was "dealt a bad hand" among other things. He is working for $9 hr. cleaning(someone has to do it-it is a job and pays bills I do it to) but his problem with medicine and especially chiro was he was "promised" something and it didn't happen(lots of $) and now it is the schools, admissions, and medical fields fault for his failure in life. I could rant and rave about my last job that made me go back to school but it won't make me any happier or make anyone feel better about themselves; which is what these lonely folks think they are doing-releaving their stress and short coming on a blog site and finding entertainment in hostile comments. they post so much because that feeling of estacy can only last so long. sorry I sound like I am ranting and raving but I just would rather talk to someone that loves what they do rather than someone who hates it. look at success to succeed or at failure and how not to go it.

I think it is definitely necessary and important to learn from not only from the success stories but from the failed ones as well. I'll be honest, when I was in highschool, I used to believe that any "doctor" will make "a ton of money" upon earning the initials beside the name. However, by learning that people can and do fail in professions - even medical professions, I realized that there is alot of effort, management, and dedication to follow. I'm fortunate to be surrounded with many successful professionals to learn from them - one of the biggest atributes in our profession is the ability to network - we are in an industry that relies heavily on impressions, presentation, and ability to communicate - those are things that you don't necessarily learn in a textbook, but are vital for your career down the road. Unfortunately, many of those who fail and rant in public forums like network54 don't recognize that. If you follow their posts, they'll blaim everything around them, including the profession - everything except themselves as most failures do.

Moral of the story: If you want to succeed in any profession, you should know and learn from those who succeed, be aware that there are failures, be positive and proud of your career, and most importantly, apply and stick with "what works".

 

[jonwill]

I think it is definitely necessary and important to learn from not only from the success stories but from the failed ones as well. I'll be honest, when I was in highschool, I used to believe that any "doctor" will make "a ton of money" upon earning the initials beside the name. However, by learning that people can and do fail in professions - even medical professions, I realized that there is alot of effort, management, and dedication to follow. I'm fortunate to be surrounded with many successful professionals to learn from them - one of the biggest atributes in our profession is the ability to network - we are in an industry that relies heavily on impressions, presentation, and ability to communicate - those are things that you don't necessarily learn in a textbook, but are vital for your career down the road. Unfortunately, many of those who fail and rant in public forums like network54 don't recognize that. If you follow their posts, they'll blaim everything around them, including the profession - everything except themselves as most failures do.

Moral of the story: If you want to succeed in any profession, you should know and learn from those who succeed, be aware that there are failures, be positive and proud of your career, and most importantly, apply and stick with "what works".

👍

 

[dpmrunner]

Another thing that you would want to look at is the negativity of some people for medicine in general. It isn't quite negativity but many medical forums and even a few threads on SDN have many MD/DO types completing residency and saying they wouldn't do it all over again if they knew what they know now.

Any medical career will be a challenge. As stated above...there are the few people that love it and will praise professions such as podiatry and a few that hate it. The ones that hate it will more than likely vent about the subject much more in any type of forum in which one would listen. You also have the in betweens that are very content with the field of podiatry but not to the point of continually praising it or wasting their time posting negativity on message boards.

Make educated decisions with what you want to do. Visit doctors and podiatrists in the area and if they are kind enough maybe try to see roughly what they make so you can get an idea how the area is for medicine as it can vary quite a bit depending on if the region is mostly gov. medical programs, private insurance, etc.

It is a good profession, I still have to explain to my friends about the school required etc and they gain an appreciation for it. I have others that say how podiatrists are horrible and want to place everyone in an orthotic (this being more the older generation). It isn't a profession to get rich on (as I don't think any medical profession is). You can become rich yes but there is much more to it than that and you need to want to do it for all of those various other reasons or you may end up leading a very depressing life.