Ortho vs Podiatrist

[jonwill]

I found this article while reading the other day:

"An article published in the July 2003 issue of "Foot and Ankle International," the clinical journal of the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society, reveals that foot and ankle residency training among orthopaedic residents is 'vague' and does not 'require experience or proficiency in this discipline.'"

"Lead author of the article, Michael S. Pinzur, MD, of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation at Loyola University Medical Center, utilized a survey form sent to the chairs of 148 accredited residency programs in orthopedic surgery in the United States. The response rate was 100%."

"Results showed that 80 programs (54.1 percent) had just one faculty member, while 21 programs (14.2 percent) had no faculty member with a dedicated interest in foot and ankle orthopedics. Fifteen programs (10.1%) did not have a committed faculty member, nor did their residents have a clinical rotation dedicated to foot and ankle care."

"Ninety-six percent of the programs had a dedicated clinical foot and ankle experience, while 33 assigned their residents to clinical foot and ankle rotations at multiple times during their training. Overall, the total duration of their foot and ankle clinical training ranged from as little as 6 weeks, to as much as 24 weeks, out of a possible 260 weeks of residency training."

"The authors state the survey results show the disparity of commitment to foot and ankle orthopaedics in American graduate medical education in orthopaedic surgery. The article concludes by stating, 'While most programs are in compliance with the guidelines published by the Accreditation Council for Graduate medical Education, many programs offer virtually no exposure to this important discipline.'"

"In stark contrast is the training of podiatrists," said APMA President LLoyd S. Smith, DPM. 'Our students currently receive six to seven years of formalized training in the foot, ankle and related structures during their educational experiences. Their initial years are of a general nature quite similar to medical school students. Many of those classes are now held jointly at health science centers where the medical and podiatry students are integrated into the same classrooms.'"

"During the second and third years, the future podiatrists begin to focus on the lower extremity issues. Ultimately the fourth year in school and the subsequent years as a resident allow the podiatrist to receive vastly more training and experience in lower extremity pathology than any other health care professional in the United States."

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[scpod]

"In stark contrast is the training of podiatrists," said APMA President LLoyd S. Smith, DPM. 'Our students currently receive six to seven years of formalized training in the foot, ankle and related structures during their educational experiences. Their initial years are of a general nature quite similar to medical school students. Many of those classes are now held jointly at health science centers where the medical and podiatry students are integrated into the same classrooms.'"

Their are some pretty good things about podiatry starting to show up in the literature of other professions. For instance, Judit Korda MD, and Géza P. Bálint MD, FRCP, DSc, wrote in the August 2004 edition of Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology "Proper diagnosis and treatment needs the close cooperation of the rheumatologist, podiatrist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist; the podiatrist is an important member of this multidisciplinary team."

I've read studies in a major radiological journal about podiatry, and in several other sources. If I had the time, I could probably do a pretty good literature review because podiatry is becoming very well respected in some circles. There is a UK study (don't know if a similar one in the US would provide the same results) that shows a large number of General Practicioners prefer to send their patients to pod's rather than ortho's.