Pros/Cons of Taking Classes with/without Medical Students

[SDrJJohnson]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys, It's me again.

I've been curious for a while why some students will only apply to schools that integrates their classes with the medical students (i.e. AZPOD, DMU, Scoll, Temple, etc.). I'd think that pre-pods would want to be in a class of their own so that classes could be specifically taught for pods (i.e Kent, NYCPM, SMU, etc.). Is their some merit to taking classes with medical students that I don't see, or is it just because they want to be seen as "equals" to the medical students? I understand schools like Scholl and Temple have their own integrated hospitals and better research labs because they are larger universities, but the majority of the podiatry students that I know don't pronounce research as being a big deal to them when they apply. So I'd like to know your guys' opinion on this matter 🙂

Thanks a lot guys, I look forward to your replies!
-SDrJJohnson

 

[dyk343]

You basically nailed it...
Schools with integration with medical students have more medicine teaching/clinics in their podiatry school days.
Schools without integration with medical students have more podiatry oriented teaching/clinics in their podiatry school days.

We need to know medicine, especially during residency, but in the end we are podiatrists and hypertension is something we note in a chart but will not treat.

To be honest.. I don't really think it matters in the end. All schools produce top students. All schools produce poor students. Go where you are most comfortable and don't buy into the hype. There is a lot of bias on SDN but 99% of it is pre-pod students who know everything.

 

[brittany24]

Yeah, SDN students like to speculate. For sure. A lot of postings that I find on here are highly arrogant. But.. the majority of what I read here is really encouraging. I like engaging with my future colleagues on different topics and learning from pods and pre-pods who know more than me.

Since you asked, SDrJJohnson, I like the idea of knowing that I'll be able to explain to my future patients as best as I can, what specific problems they are having. I feel like I will do a better job of this if I know, in detail, how the body works as a whole. My personal beliefs with medicine, health, and well-being is that as physicians we need to be able to address the body in as many areas as possible (physical, mental, emotional, etc). Saying, "You're only a foot doctor so stop trying to be a real doctor" is vastly limiting on the potential and impact that a podiatrist will have on their patients.

At Western, the interprofessional education not only teaches the Pod / DO/ PT/PA/Vet/Dent/Optometry students about cases by first year, but it also decreases medical errors in the medical community as a whole. I think the pod schools like teaching them together because it teaches the MD/DO students what pods are and that is a big thing as well. There are many practicing medical professionals that have no idea what the scope of a podiatrist involves, so they will never refer patients to them.

This is just my personal opinion, good discussion topic though!

 

[SDrJJohnson]

Yeah, SDN students like to speculate. For sure. A lot of postings that I find on here are highly arrogant. But.. the majority of what I read here is really encouraging. I like engaging with my future colleagues on different topics and learning from pods and pre-pods who know more than me.

Since you asked, SDrJJohnson, I like the idea of knowing that I'll be able to explain to my future patients as best as I can, what specific problems they are having. I feel like I will do a better job of this if I know, in detail, how the body works as a whole. My personal beliefs with medicine, health, and well-being is that as physicians we need to be able to address the body in as many areas as possible (physical, mental, emotional, etc). Saying, "You're only a foot doctor so stop trying to be a real doctor" is vastly limiting on the potential and impact that a podiatrist will have on their patients.

At Western, the interprofessional education not only teaches the Pod / DO/ PT/PA/Vet/Dent/Optometry students about cases by first year, but it also decreases medical errors in the medical community as a whole. I think the pod schools like teaching them together because it teaches the MD/DO students what pods are and that is a big thing as well. There are many practicing medical professionals that have no idea what the scope of a podiatrist involves, so they will never refer patients to them.

This is just my personal opinion, good discussion topic though!

Thanks for your opinion!
I agree that every medical professional should have a "standard" knowledge of breadth human pathology. That being said, I wouldn't go as far as saying that taking classes with peers of other medical specificity would increase this knowledge. Generally speaking, all podiatry students take the same classes no matter what school a student attends, its just the presentation of the material that differs depending on the specific schools curriculum. I wouldn't expect there to be too much of a deviation of what a podiatry student actually learns at one vs the other. In my personal opinion, I feel that having classes with only the students of your specialty would be of more benefit (on a curriculum level) simply because of the potential for more specialized teaching. Never the less, everyone learns and enjoys things differently, so I believe that this is ultimately just a matter of opinion.

Thank you again for the post.
-SDrJJohnson

 

[Pod Zilla]

I think the biggest benefit is allowing other medical specialties know that there's such field as podiatry. Studying alongside them gives them awareness. These are our future colleagues who will be referring their patients to us so mind as well get the networking started as soon as possible. As far as curriculum goes, CPME has learning outcomes that all schools need to meet, so in essence we will all get the same education. And just because I go to school with DO students doesn't mean I won't be taking podiatry-oriented courses. In fact, that's far from the truth. At DMU, we take our first year classes with DO students and only pharmacology with them during our second year. Everything else after we're on our own and those courses are tailored to podiatry students. Every school will have great students and poor students and even students that you wonder if they're really going to be treating patients one day. So in the end, just choose a school that will have the resources you will need and a learning atmosphere that best suits you.

 

[CoffeeMonster]

If the goal is parity, the future is in integration with allopathic and osteopathic medical schools. You can argue all you want about how you get "special" attention at solo pod schools but the truth of the matter is that these schools can't compete with the resources available through partnerships with larger universities. You'll get the same podiatric medical education, along with the added bonus of a solid regular medical education as well. I've interviewed at both types of schools and to me, the difference was honestly night and day. CSPM literally didn't have enough study spaces on campus for their students... that's a basic necessity for med school. NYCPM looked like a renovated high school squeezed into a dilapidated building in a bad part of Harlem. Don't get me wrong, I had great experiences interviewing at these schools, but it's simply economics. They are doing their best with what they have and you can be successful at any school. I just think you will have more of an uphill battle to prove yourself and to build relationships with other current and future medical professionals who may not be familiar with podiatry as a specialty.

 

[PatchAdamsFan]

Get the best GPA you can muster, smile, work hard, and secure the residency you want. There is no secret weapon one school holds over another. We have but 9 schools here, and with application numbers at a small decline, bashing certain schools is quite literally the last thing we need.

 

[heybrother]

I don't have the energy to write a big box of text, but having taken classes with and without DOs I feel the quality of my education plummeted when we went our separate ways.

 

[g squared 23]

I don't have the energy to write a big box of text, but having taken classes with and without DOs I feel the quality of my education plummeted when we went our separate ways.

100% agree. Our systems courses were watered down, and the professors were not as "into it"'as when they were lecturing to the entire group.

 

[PinkDaisys]

Going to a place with DO's/med students is absolutely an advantage. It shows in most students ability when they apply/do externships for residencies

 

[SLCpod]

Going to a place with DO's/med students is absolutely an advantage. It shows in most students ability when they apply/do externships for residencies

I don't know if I agree with this. I find that to be prepared for externships you need to have more clinical experiences. If you go to a school with combined classes it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get a better clinical experience. In fact, being combined with the other medical programs means that you most likely will be doing clinicals that are not associated with podiatry. I would also imagine that students that are in a smaller class have more opportunities to ask professors more questions and therefore learn more of the material.

 

[feet2017]

When you take classes with DO/MD students the courses will be more organized and the test questions will be better written.

 

[SLCpod]

When you take classes with DO/MD students the courses will be more organized and the test questions will be better written.

How is that suppose to make you better in clinic? If there is a bad test question it doesn't make me a poor student. A qualification to teach at an MD or DPM program should not be your ability to write a test.

Poorly written questions always pop up on exams and are thrown out. You'll see it on the usmle, pod boards and others.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

 

[feet2017]

How is that suppose to make you better in clinic? If there is a bad test question it doesn't make me a poor student. A qualification to teach at an MD or DPM program should not be your ability to write a test.

Poorly written questions always pop up on exams and are thrown out. You'll see it on the usmle, pod boards and others.

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

In all honesty I don't think that classes really prepare you for clinic except for the pimp questions, but pod classes have significantly more bad questions. You just won't kill yourself for 2 years when you are taking test and thinking to yourself how can someone write such bad test questions. I personally alone think that's worth it.

I don't have experience at taking classes in a pod school that is not integrated, so for all I know your systems courses/micro/path/etc could be great classes. But at the school I go to we only have 1 or 2 classes we don't take with the do's and those classes are the worst.....