as someone who has some experience with rural healthcare, I can tell you they care more about getting someone good who they think is retainable, than any aspect of your training. And they’ll often times sacrifice “good” in exchange for “this person won’t get bored and leave in 2 years.”
Very few jobs will know anything about where you did residency. That really won’t matter outside of some personal connection (ie a few of the family medicine docs also did their residency at UPMC) helping you out a little. If you are applying for a job with a big health network or their affiliated MSG, then the fellowship trained person certainly holds an edge in the battle of paper applicants. Some groups may put a lot of stock in that. Not because of the actual fellowship they did, but because “fellowship training” is essentially a standard in any other surgical sub specialty. It would be naive to think that a fellowship, if for no other reason than it makes you look better on paper, wouldn’t be beneficial when applying for a job against other podiatrists.
Are these employers seeking out or only considering fellowship trained podiatrists? Absolutely not.
I have friends who had average at best training, and they’ve been the ones saying that, who have had better jobs and made a lot more money than I have since finishing residency. Training did not matter at all. Geography and luck played bigger roles to be honest. A willingness to go rural will create more job opportunities than most (if not all) podiatry fellowships will...in my opinion
I agree 110%... very good info here. ^
Rural hospitals are, on the whole, a lot easier to "bamboozle," and they certainly value potential for longevity of that doc position staying filled. You will usually find a mix of many young docs (all specialties) being frugal and paying off their loans fast (or FIRE) via low COL in rural... and many other rural docs who probably would never get a job in the city for various reasons, but there are also everything in between in rural medicine. You have some pretty sharp docs even way outside the metros, but facilities and patients in country areas are generally more comfortable with letting a doctor "do their best." It takes all kinds, and each facility is its own culture. Like dtrack said, the rural facilities tend to have not ever had a DPM, lost theirs, have one(s) desperate to lighten their call/clinic schedule and didn't get many applications (usually since they didn't post the job very well), etc.
Your credentialing/privileging and interviewing at rural places might be done by a FP/IM/etc Chief of Staff or a GSurg/Ortho/etc Chief of Surgery doc who has no real idea of our boards/training. Think how hard it is to stay up to date with all specialties... for MDs, DO, midlevels, dentists, etc etc... hard, hard job. The interview might be done by/with a DPM if they have one, but that doc might be minimally trained. It's not that they'll hire anyone for the rural positions, but most just don't get it if they don't have a DPM or two who knows/cares what's going on... the MDs mean well, but they might potentially think a 4yr at Wyckoff with ABLES cert is better than a 3yr at West Penn with ABFAS cert, lol. You never know... it is
always up to you to sell your training and emphasize your logs and competence. It is a fairly sharp contrast if you are accustomed to the dog-eat-dog of the city where you are generally interviewing for the job or the privileges with a Chief of Podiatry who is a surgically, politically, and/or financially powerful DPM in that area.
The exception arises if they have a reasonably skilled DPM or two on staff (at that rural hospital or in their system who participates). Then, everything that matters at most city hospitals (ABFAS cert, residency, maybe fellowship, case logs, ABPM cert, etc) will also matter for that job. As that is already the norm in the vast majority of DPM groups and lion's share of MSG, ortho, hospitals, etc, you can bet it will gradually get to rural ones also. I'd always advise getting the best training possible and appropriate certs for that reason and the personal growth/satisfaction, but could a Chicago VA grad willing to go to rural northwest get a higher pay job than a Swedish grad who chose to only consider jobs in SanFran? Yep, for sure (esp with COL factored in).
*edit to add: Make sure you
ask rural hospitals what they expect the podiatrist to do before you spend the time to apply. You will be surprised how many are minimal surgery allowed/capability or even non-op clinic podiatry postings (usually since maybe their prior podiatrist was non-op). Some of those can have podiatry services expanded by a DPM with more training, but some cannot. Some rural hospitals/systems won't have OR time for podiatry, some won't have the equipment/staff/etc (they send it "to the city" to another facility... which you may or may not be able/expected to get on staff at), and still others might not even have a facility with ORs close to the clinic building or location(s) they want you to cover patients at. You would be surprised how many of these just kinda want a C&C podiatrist who does heel pain, orthotics, etc. It is always good to call HR, talk to their podiatrist if they have one, ask about anything unclear, confirm anything important to you, and make sure they know you have surgical training and need numbers for boards, etc.
