capo said:
Are they usually one year after the PMS-36, 3 year residency? Can one specialize in pediatric or trauma or reconstructive surgery ONLY? I guess my question is, I know a bit about ortho fellowships, but not alot about DPM fellowships.
Are DPM's ever the 1st surgeon called into an ER or trauma unit, as the surgeon to see the patient after an ER doc has paged/called in, the DPM from home or the like? I'm a little confused as to who handles these situations, in a hospital ER/trauma setting.
I assume any 'on call' general ortho doc could possibly do the work himself I think, but does trauma or ER injuries give first preference to a DPM Foot and Ankle guy or do ortho's still control this type of surgery in ER/trauma /reconstructive situations?
As for foot and ankle trauma call, it will depend on the hospital you work at. If you are at a hospital where the orthopedic service do not want to deal with the foot and ankle trauma, then the DPM would be the primary person that they call for foot and ankle trauma in the ER. In other hospitals, orthopedic services or even the ER physician would determine if the DPM should get the foot and ankle trauma on a case by case basis. There are some situations where the orthopedic service and DPM would alternate being on call for foot and ankle trauma (such as DPM would take foot and ankle trauma on even days and orthopedic services take foot and ankle trauma call on odd days). Of course, there are also some hospitals where DPM are not allowed to take foot and ankle trauma call.
I think that there was an earlier thread on the fellowship opportunities for Podiatric Surgeon. I am going to simply carbon copy what I had written about the fellowship opportunities. Some fellowships are open to both PM&S-24 and PM&S-36. On the other hand, some are only open to PM&S-36 residency grads. You need to check with the individual fellowship. There are some fellowship opportunities that you can apply to during your residency training.
There are several fellowship options available for the graduating Podiatry resident. Some of the fellowship opportunities are listed on the CPME website via CPME 800 documents, which can be view at:
http://www.apma.org/s_apma/seccpme....D=300&DID=16842
There are some other fellowship opportunities that are not listed in the CPME 800 documents but residency directors do get mailing from these programs.
Many of the fellowship programs offer some additional training in Reconstructive Rearfoot Surgery (Dr. Jolly's Fellowship, Indiana Fellowship, Dr. Weil's Fellowship, one in California, etc...), Limb Deformity Correction (Dr. Paley's Fellowship), Sports Medicine (Virginia Mason Sports Medicine Center, Barry University, etc..), Diabetic and Limb Salvage (San Antonio, etc...), Wound Care, and Geriatrics. Most of these fellowships are usually 1 year long with a few exceptions. There are other mini fellowship opportunities for the Podiatry resident / graduate. These include the AO/ASIF Trauma Fellowship (1 -3 months long) and the Smith & Nephew Ilizarov Mini Fellowship in Kurgan, Russia (6 weeks long). One can apply for this Ilizarov Mini Fellowship through the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons.
The reason why someone would consider doing a fellowship is to get additional training in the area of interest.
