Want to get cheered up?

[PADPM]

There is often doom and gloom on this site despite the advances our profession has made such as a 3 year mandatory residency, excellent surgical training, increasing hospital privileges, more mainstreaming with other medical professions and the list goes on.

If you believe our profession is having issues, read some posts on the optometry forums. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of unhappy attending with the way they are treated by other medical specialists, low income and/or low starting salaries, and poor treatment by potential corporate employers (Lens Crafters, etc.).

It may cheer you up a little.

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[Cascade11]

Yea, I felt the world turn grey after spending some time there. Was considering going to an optometry school once upon a time, crisis averted.

 

[PADPM]

I do have to preface the fact that I have 3 friends who are optometrists and 2 of them do VERY well financially and one does ok. All have private practices and have been in business for over 25 years. I think the younger optometrists have a rougher time than those who graduated years ago.

I believe that despite the cost of education, young DPMs have great earning potential and also have many more paths to choose and more employment opportunities (solo practice, group podiatric practice, hospital based practices, VA positions, military positions, multi-discipline practices, orthopedic practices) than the older DPMs.

I'm not sure the younger optometrists feel this way.

 

[RockFoot]

when I want to reaffirm my decision and give myself a pat on the back I go the opto forum, read a dose of true, legitimate, doom and gloom. Then I go to the pharm forum for a dose of fear of being replaced by the machines and the problem of having way to many schools popping out way to many grads. Then I smile and thank God that we as a culture are afraid of feet and there will never be 10's of thousands of pod school grads in my lifetime!

but in all seriousness, I feel for the guys and gals going into those fields because they are going to have a tough ride to success I'm afraid.

 

[NeilD]

There is often doom and gloom on this site despite the advances our profession has made such as a 3 year mandatory residency, excellent surgical training, increasing hospital privileges, more mainstreaming with other medical professions and the list goes on.

If you believe our profession is having issues, read some posts on the optometry forums. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of unhappy attending with the way they are treated by other medical specialists, low income and/or low starting salaries, and poor treatment by potential corporate employers (Lens Crafters, etc.).

It may cheer you up a little.

I hear exactly the same thing from my own Opt. He told me it is becoming a profession of women that want to marry and work part time at the big chains for a little family money and lifestyle but thats about it. They also work cheap and are only concerned about things like weekends off, hours, etc... The days of the new young Opt. opening a private practice in suburbia are about over.

Competing with the large chains is almost impossible for many reasons, one being becoming a provider for many insurance plans. The large chains negot the contract with the private insr plans and then the young new independents get squeezed out. The whole "super group" concept that is going around Podiatry now. I think in Podiatry the super group concept would be stronger if they created super "multi" specialty groups thus eliminating the call /fax to the PCP every time they needed permission to do this or that. One stop shopping opposed to Podiatry only shopping might be more attractive to slective HMO's, PPO's.

 

[RockFoot]

I was driving in Amish country today, about 45 min from Cleveland. I stopped at s small town walmart that had many Amish shoppers. In that walmart they had the first "walmart clinic" I have ever seen with a list of prices: 60 for influenza, 70 for sprains, conjuntivitis, suture removal etc. Amish don't believe in government assistance (they don't bleed the beast like fundamentalist mormons), they dont have insurance so a cash model is best for a healthcare provider in amish country. I wonder if this wouldn't be a recipe for success with a rural pod practice. perhaps minus walmart, perhaps not.

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[MaxillofacialMN]

Too bad there isn't a Juris Doctor forum on here, cause there'd be a lot of doom and gloom there too.

 

[podo trest]

This thread seems to be in poor taste in my humble opinion. I'd rather not cheer myself up at the expense of others' misfortune.

 

[PADPM]

This thread seems to be in poor taste in my humble opinion. I'd rather not cheer myself up at the expense of others' misfortune.

Your point is well taken, but my point was not to be happy with the "misfortune" of others. My original title was tongue-in-cheek and I was simply attempting to make the point that our profession is not that bad, despite a lot of doom and gloom posts, and that the grass is not always greener on the other side. My point was also that some of the concerns expressed on a regular basis on this forum are not unique to podiatry.

 

[footfan34]

1

 

[podo trest]

Your point is well taken, but my point was not to be happy with the "misfortune" of others. My original title was tongue-in-cheek and I was simply attempting to make the point that our profession is not that bad, despite a lot of doom and gloom posts, and that the grass is not always greener on the other side. My point was also that some of the concerns expressed on a regular basis on this forum are not unique to podiatry.

I was actually being pretty sarcastic which I know is impossible to pick up most of the time on a forum. If anyone thinks they're that high up to never laugh at someone else ever they're probably kidding themselves. I totally agree with your point.

 

[RockFoot]

ahhhh schadenfreud

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[DPMA]

This thread seems to be in poor taste in my humble opinion. I'd rather not cheer myself up at the expense of others' misfortune.

I agree.

 

[MaxillofacialMN]

I agree.

What! That's all jokes are! Everything funny is at someone/something else's expense. Try and think of a joke that isn't that is t a pun of a play on words. You can't!! Funny=makes fun of. I guarantee it!