Podiatric Surgeons

[LobsterGuy]

Hello,

Are there any podiatrists who only do surgery and/or work full-time for a hospital as a surgeon?

Thank you in advance!

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[GreenHousePub]

No. Every podiatrist who does surgery also does clinic. Every general surgeon also has a clinic. Every ophthalmologist has a clinic. You have to see patients either in-house or in clinic to get to operate on them, and then you are responsible for their post op outcome.

 

[LobsterGuy]

No. Every podiatrist who does surgery also does clinic. Every general surgeon also has a clinic. Every ophthalmologist has a clinic. You have to see patients either in-house or in clinic to get to operate on them, and then you are responsible for their post op outcome.

I apologize for not being clear, I meant are there any podiatrists that have practices limited to surgery only, so no routine procedures such as fitting orthotics or corn removal? Is there such thing as an attending podiatrist in a hospital that solely takes foot and ankle consults and then treats/operates accordingly then follows up in clinic?

 

[GreenHousePub]

I apologize for not being clear, I meant are there any podiatrists that have practices limited to surgery only, so no routine procedures such as fitting orthotics or corn removal? Is there such thing as an attending podiatrist in a hospital that solely takes foot and ankle consults and then treats/operates accordingly then follows up in clinic?

I see what you're getting at, I think. Maybe others can speak better to that, but I'm hospital based and do surgery 1 day a week. I'm allowed to choose what I can see, but I still see people for orthotics and routine diabetic foot care. As long as I'm bringing in money to them I don't think they mind.

If you are looking to be only a foot and ankle surgeon, most hospitals would rather opt for a foot and ankle ortho, they can do other procedures and have a wider scope which brings in big money. Where I'm at I do see ankle fractures, some other trauma but it's split up amongst our department.

You'd be surprised what you can get out of seeing people for "routine" stuff such as orthotics. My last two flatfoot reconstructions were people that just came in wanting new orthotics and after a discussion they opted for that. Got a Jones teno-suspension out of a routine diabetic callus trimming. Ray amputation after patient showed up with a large wound originally scheduled for diabetic nail debridement. Ankle fusion after guy was here for orthotics.

Even your big time general, chest, plastics and other surgeons still see routine stuff in their clinics. If you can identify deeper pathology and then communicate with the patient's you'll get surgeries.

 

[AttackNME]

I apologize for not being clear, I meant are there any podiatrists that have practices limited to surgery only, so no routine procedures such as fitting orthotics or corn removal? Is there such thing as an attending podiatrist in a hospital that solely takes foot and ankle consults and then treats/operates accordingly then follows up in clinic?

Put it this way, it'll be easy for malpractice lawyers to eat you up if they know that you're doing flatfoot recons or hammertoe surgeries without first doing custom orthotics or shaving a callus. Gotta do conservative first before elective surgery.

 

[CutsWithFury]

I apologize for not being clear, I meant are there any podiatrists that have practices limited to surgery only, so no routine procedures such as fitting orthotics or corn removal? Is there such thing as an attending podiatrist in a hospital that solely takes foot and ankle consults and then treats/operates accordingly then follows up in clinic?

I kind of have that gig now. I do everything right now in my hospital practice. I do diabetic foot care, routine podiatry clinic procedures, I take ER call for infections and foot trauma, I do wound care in our wound care clinic and I see patients in clinic and that’s where I get my elective reconstructive foot and ankle cases from.

I negotiated with ortho and I get 1 week of ankle trauma call per month.

There are jobs out there but they always come with politics

 

[AttackNME]

I kind of have that gig now. I do everything right now in my hospital practice. I do diabetic foot care, routine podiatry clinic procedures, I take ER call for infections and foot trauma, I do wound care in our wound care clinic and I see patients in clinic and that’s where I get my elective reconstructive foot and ankle cases from.

I negotiated with ortho and I get 1 week of ankle trauma call per month.

There are jobs out there but they always come with politics

That’s the way to go, most pods I know start out doing that by just taking everything, later on in your career once you’ve established your practice you can start being more selective and turning people away if you don’t want to see that type of pathology.