Question about Podiatry School

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Hi guys,

I am interested in podiatry, and I was wondering exactly how hands on it is.

I am more of a person who thinks theoretically, and I wanted to know how much podiatry is going to require a lot of dexterity and precision.

I am okay with my hands if I get some practice on doing things before hand (referring to college labs and such as) but I am not really gifted and mess up a lot. Do I have no chance in surgery? I am afraid I don't have the skills to be a good surgeon, how would I know?

Is there a place in podiatry for the more theoretically oriented?

 

[Robert De Niro]

Hi guys,

I am interested in podiatry, and I was wondering exactly how hands on it is.

I am more of a person who thinks theoretically, and I wanted to know how much podiatry is going to require a lot of dexterity and precision.

I am okay with my hands if I get some practice on doing things before hand (referring to college labs and such as) but I am not really gifted and mess up a lot. Do I have no chance in surgery? I am afraid I don't have the skills to be a good surgeon, how would I know?

Is there a place in podiatry for the more theoretically oriented?

I think you need to find a podiatrist to shadow and ask him/her. From my experience, even the clinical aspect of the profession still required the use of your hands. But that was from my experience, maybe some one else has something to add.

 

[Cascade11]

From what I've seen from shadowing podiatrists is that the profession is hands-on, that's why I love it. My podiatrist cut nails, shaved down calluses, fitted orthotics, froze warts and did surgeries on bunions and hammer toes. In surgeries he obviously wielded a scalpel and a bone saw and I don't believe there is much room for error with those tools. I don't know how much manual dexterity is required but I would say enough not to accidently cut your patient in a wrong way.

 

[alright01]

Hi guys,

I am interested in podiatry, and I was wondering exactly how hands on it is.

I am more of a person who thinks theoretically, and I wanted to know how much podiatry is going to require a lot of dexterity and precision.

I am okay with my hands if I get some practice on doing things before hand (referring to college labs and such as) but I am not really gifted and mess up a lot. Do I have no chance in surgery? I am afraid I don't have the skills to be a good surgeon, how would I know?

Is there a place in podiatry for the more theoretically oriented?

Podiatry is extremely hands on. It is, afterall, a surgeon who performs various types of surgeries...not just bunions and hammertoes. It is also very hands on in the clinical setting as well. However, if you are truly interested in the profession, I wouldn't let a little clumsiness discourage you. We all fumbled around when we first started building hand skills, but it is something you have plenty of time to learn in school and faculty is there to help you with it. I would recommend doing some research on the profession and shadowing a podiatrist as the previous posts suggested. Podiatry (as with any type of medical school) is not recommended for someone who is "on the fence" because it will put you in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and require rigorous studying for the next 4 years of your life. It's not an easy road, so I would definitely familiarize myself with the whole ordeal before getting into it and realizing it was more than what you signed up for. At the same time, it has been one of the best choices I ever made. Bottom line--if you're truly interested and understand the profession then I would definitely go for it! Don't worry about hand skills. You have time to get that down. If you decide to attend a pod school I would encourage you to shadow/volunteer WHILE your in school also--this is not only great networking, but it will help solidify your skills and give you extra help outside of school if you feel inadequate.

As far as a more theoretical approach, podiatry offers PhD and Master's programs for students that you can do at the same time as your DPM. The PhD is more research based and can lead to a career doing podiatric research instead of practicing if you're interested in that. However, if you're interested in the clinical parts of the DPM you should definitely practice, and you can do research on the side, or be a professor, serve as a board member, etc. Plenty of options.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!

 

[Segment]

Thank you all for the wonderful advise, especially alright01 - that was a very thoughtful and helpful post. I definitely have a lot to do and think about.

 

[dyk343]

Are you just clumsy or are your hands unstable? There is a difference. If you drop a Kelly clamp on the floor the scrub tech will roll their eyes at you, but if you have a scalpel in your hand and you are shaking the entire time... well that's obviously different.

Start playing guitar or something that develops hand eye coordination and good luck to you in your decisions.