Should I change from pre-med to pre-podiatry??

[cinfid12]

I've been contemplating back and forth between these two professions, not because I cannot get in but because of the life style. I've talked to so many doctors who tell me to make sure it is what I want to do before I do it. I like everything doctors do, I've shadowed many for long periods of time. I am just worried about the lifestyle and debt. I was planning on primary care because I am not going to bank on a residency. I am already in a good deal of debt and after all that hard work, I don't want to be struggling for years to pay it off. I'm not going in for the salary, I just don't know if it will be worth it based on what people are saying to me. What do you think? I've done a good deal of research and plan on shadowing a podiatrist soon to see. If I like what a podiatrist does I just dont know how to make the decision.

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[fivescrew]

How far in the educational process are you?

 

[janV88]

You definitely need to shadow a Podiatrist. I would try and shadow atleast a 2 or 3. And don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions...just not in front of the patients though.

Just realize that Podiatry is a procedural/surgical field. Podiatrists in general are not in the OR as much as say Ortho spine or Gen surg, but Podiatrists do a lot of office procedures. Partial nail avulsions, cortisone injections, dfu's, even casting for orthoses. The thought process that is required to arrive at a diagnosis is the same as an MD/DO but the treatments Podiatrists do day in and day out requires a hands on type of personality, IMO.

Also another thing to realize about any field that does surgery...you will be on call. Emergencies do happen. Not as much as most other surgical fields but it still happens in Podiatry.

 

[cinfid12]

thanks a lot. Sounds good, I have one more year of college left...

 

[PADPM]

I've been contemplating back and forth between these two professions, not because I cannot get in but because of the life style.

I'm not sure I understand your comment about "lifestyle". If you believe for some reason, that the lifestyle of a DPM is somehow different than other medical specialties, I'm afraid you're mistaken.

I've attempted to debunk that myth many times, in many posts. There are extremes in every profession, but the DPM's I know who are successful all work hard and work as hard as any other medical specialty I know.

You can certainly practice any way you want, but the majority of today's DPM's are extremely well trained and want to utilize that training, which includes surgical training, trauma, etc. As a result, that includes emergencies. That equates with long hours and not always a convenient lifestyle.

Last week I was called in for 2 surgical emergencies (it was my on-call week) and had to travel back to the hospital, visit the patient in the ER and take the patient to surgery at 9 pm. This happened twice last week. On Friday, when I was about to leave the office, a local GI doc called saying his mother injured her leg, but he was tied up in the O.R. and wanted to know if he could bring her over in about 1-1.5 hours. I could have said "no", but waited for him to bring her over since to HIM it was an emergency. As a result, I had to cancel some plans.

This happens a lot in our practice, and I'm sure it happens a lot in other practices across the country. Many older podiatric practices performed more palliative and routine care and rarely had emergencies which led to a more convenient lifestyle. But with increased knowledge, increased training and increased skills comes increased responsibilities. As a result, I know I work at LEAST as hard as my friends who are in all varieties of medical specialties.

So choose this profession because it's what you want to do, not because of the misconception that it's somehow going to be a different lifestyle than most other medical specialties. Yes, there are some very demanding specialties such as trauma, neurosurgery, etc., but for the most part, podiatry is as demanding time-wise as the majority.

 

[javajava]

I've been contemplating back and forth between these two professions, not because I cannot get in but because of the life style. I've talked to so many doctors who tell me to make sure it is what I want to do before I do it. I like everything doctors do, I've shadowed many for long periods of time. I am just worried about the lifestyle and debt. I was planning on primary care because I am not going to bank on a residency. I am already in a good deal of debt and after all that hard work, I don't want to be struggling for years to pay it off. I'm not going in for the salary, I just don't know if it will be worth it based on what people are saying to me. What do you think? I've done a good deal of research and plan on shadowing a podiatrist soon to see. If I like what a podiatrist does I just dont know how to make the decision.

Go shadow and tell us what you think after your done hehe

 

[PADPM]

If you like what a DPM does, but still can't decide you have a very tough decision to make. Once you commit to becoming a DPM, there really is no turning back, unless you change professional schools or change careers.

If you choose the MD/DO route, you do have the opportunity to change your mind regarding specialty choice during your 4 years in school, and then hope you obtain the residency of your choice.

So, if you're not absolutely positive podiatric medicine and surgery is the way you want to go, you may want to choose another route, since once you commit you can't change specialty choices without transferring to an allopathic or osteopathic program.

 

[skiz knot]

If you choose the MD/DO route, you do have the opportunity to change your mind regarding specialty choice during your 4 years in school, and then hope you obtain the residency of your choice.

In my opinion, if you have any reservations that podiatry might not be the absolute best fit, than do medicine. You have more options in case Cardiology or gynecology is your thing. Ortho is always a possibility, so you can do foot and ankle stuff if you desire with the MD route. If you are pretty sure you would like the surgical side and medical management in the field and aren't sure Ortho would be a realistic possibility, than Podiatry is a great profession.

 

[hematosis]

I'm not sure I understand your comment about "lifestyle". If you believe for some reason, that the lifestyle of a DPM is somehow different than other medical specialties, I'm afraid you're mistaken.

I've attempted to debunk that myth many times, in many posts. There are extremes in every profession, but the DPM's I know who are successful all work hard and work as hard as any other medical specialty I know.

You can certainly practice any way you want, but the majority of today's DPM's are extremely well trained and want to utilize that training, which includes surgical training, trauma, etc. As a result, that includes emergencies. That equates with long hours and not always a convenient lifestyle.

Last week I was called in for 2 surgical emergencies (it was my on-call week) and had to travel back to the hospital, visit the patient in the ER and take the patient to surgery at 9 pm. This happened twice last week. On Friday, when I was about to leave the office, a local GI doc called saying his mother injured her leg, but he was tied up in the O.R. and wanted to know if he could bring her over in about 1-1.5 hours. I could have said "no", but waited for him to bring her over since to HIM it was an emergency. As a result, I had to cancel some plans.

This happens a lot in our practice, and I'm sure it happens a lot in other practices across the country. Many older podiatric practices performed more palliative and routine care and rarely had emergencies which led to a more convenient lifestyle. But with increased knowledge, increased training and increased skills comes increased responsibilities. As a result, I know I work at LEAST as hard as my friends who are in all varieties of medical specialties.

So choose this profession because it's what you want to do, not because of the misconception that it's somehow going to be a different lifestyle than most other medical specialties. Yes, there are some very demanding specialties such as trauma, neurosurgery, etc., but for the most part, podiatry is as demanding time-wise as the majority.

Sounds like an amazing day to me

 

[Podophile]

Sounds like an amazing day to me

Some days I agree. Although I'm sitting in the lounge right now waiting for an OR to open up, and my opinion is a bit different.

 

[DPMer]

Pre-Med (M.D.) is the same as Pre-Podiatry (DPM), or Pre-Osteopath (D.O.), pre-Optometry (O.D.), pre-dental (DDS or DMD), pre-Physician Assistant (PA) or pre-veterinarian (VMD) in terms of undergrad courses to take in the first 2 years of college: general biology with labs, inorganic chemistry with labs, organic chemistry with labs, general physics with labs, calculus 1 and 2, and 2 courses in english exposition essay writing.

It is more a matter of which of these medical professionals to SHADOW.