Who should be called "physicians?"

[air bud]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Come on guys, November 2nd is not the only important vote you can make. Check out the home page questionnaire right now. Vets are beating us currently.

 

[235750]

How about we start a vote as to whether or not this conversation is finished and beaten to death?

1 vote

Honestly, would the result of an anonymous vote taken from premeds make you feel better about yourself?

 

[willdaniel76]

Most of the time when you ask a Doctor what he\she does for a living they say "I'm a Doctor" or identify themselves by their training "I'm an OB" or "I'm a Pathologist" rather then the more pompous "Oh me? I'm a physician. *fanfare*"

After all that training be proud to be what you are. A doctor yes but a specialist in whatever field you've chosen....or fell into.

It mostly matters to those outside the medical professions anyway and those unhappy with their career. In those cases a longer professional title isn't going to make them any happier in the end.

 

[air bud]

that wasnt the point of this.
So yeah, lets not start this conversation again.

 

[jonwill]

How about we start a vote as to whether or not this conversation is finished and beaten to death?

1 vote

Honestly, would the result of an anonymous vote taken from premeds make you feel better about yourself?

It is a silly debate but comes up about every six months or so. What everybody will find is that when they progress into residency/practice (pod or not), in most hospital systems podiatrists are considered staff physicians allowed to practice within their given scope of practice as defined by their training (like any other physician). Everything else is just semantics largely argued by "pre" students or beginning med/pod students. No one else really cares. 🙂

 

[itswiggles]

@ Ankle Breaker 👍👍👍👍👍

 

[347932]

It is a silly debate but comes up about every six months or so. What everybody will find is that when they progress into residency/practice (pod or not), in most hospital systems podiatrists are considered staff physicians allowed to practice within their given scope of practice as defined by their training (like any other physician). Everything else is just semantics largely argued by "pre" students or beginning med/pod students. No one else really cares. 🙂

This times infinity.

 

[GiftedPoster22]

Asking a 18-26 year old nobody in undergrad or med school who should be called a physician is hillarious. Society has already dictated that this group should be seen and not heard until they reach the age of 31.

Asking their opinion is irrelevant since their opinion doesn't really matter to anyone of substance.

No one takes this group seriously as the average american reaches adulthood at around 28-30 these days.

Many on here are probably still living with their parents at 25, which is pathetic in it's own way.

Plus this group of kids is too busy roasting their mush for brains with lady gaga songs. Which have like 10 words repeated over and over and over again. Real stimulating stuff... But fitting for this age group. Kind of like nursery rhymes for older kids.

 

[krabmas]

I agree with Jonwill as usual, who cares what a bunch of pre-meds think.

The reason it does matter a little is for legality. When laws are passed for physicians if in your state a podiatrist is not technically a physician they can easily be excluded from the law - usually excluded from certain pt populations or insurance panels.

For pissing battles who cares.

 

[GiftedPoster22]

I agree with Jonwill as usual, who cares what a bunch of pre-meds think.

The reason it does matter a little is for legality. When laws are passed for physicians if in your state a podiatrist is not technically a physician they can easily be excluded from the law - usually excluded from certain pt populations or insurance panels.

For pissing battles who cares.

And you are also agreeing with me.

Premed kids are funny to poke fun of, they are usually dorky with their premed talk and premed stuff. Most will end up making less than a Nurse practicioner or nurse anesthetists. But their pride makes them drive a imported mass produced K-car to prove their status to the world they still have student debt and have a job where they are working way more than most other jobs paying the same amount.

OK.

 

[karizma098]

And you are also agreeing with me.

Premed kids are funny to poke fun of, they are usually dorky with their premed talk and premed stuff. Most will end up making less than a Nurse practicioner or nurse anesthetists. But their pride makes them drive a imported mass produced K-car to prove their status to the world they still have student debt and have a job where they are working way more than most other jobs paying the same amount.

OK.

though i'll agree about the dorky premed comment..i dont know what you're talking about in reference to NP's and CRNA's making more than physicians...it just doesnt happen..even the lowest paid family docs make nearly 200k if they work 40 hours a week. thats if they are lazy...any specialist has to really suck to not break the 300k-500k/year mark. please show me jobs where you work a lot less to make this kind of money - ( and every single person in the field makes that amount of money) ..you don't find this in law, business, Venture capitalism, entertainment, nowhere. only in medicine.

as far as the poll is concerned, i think nearly 1300+ people voted on there. they can't all be ignorant 19 year old premeds.

 

[JaggerPlate]

though i'll agree about the dorky premed comment..i dont know what you're talking about in reference to NP's and CRNA's making more than physicians...it just doesnt happen..even the lowest paid family docs make nearly 200k if they work 40 hours a week. thats if they are lazy...any specialist has to really suck to not break the 300k-500k/year mark. please show me jobs where you work a lot less to make this kind of money - ( and every single person in the field makes that amount of money) ..you don't find this in law, business, Venture capitalism, entertainment, nowhere. only in medicine.

as far as the poll is concerned, i think nearly 1300+ people voted on there. they can't all be ignorant 19 year old premeds.

Yea, it was my understanding that the amount of time spent training (school + residency) was pretty comparable between podiatry and primary care fields and that primary care guys earned around the same. I'm unsure what the newest pod numbers are, but the latest MGMA said FP docs were around 197k average.

Additionally ... physician = DO/MD.

 

[347932]

I agree with Jonwill as usual, who cares what a bunch of pre-meds think.

The reason it does matter a little is for legality. When laws are passed for physicians if in your state a podiatrist is not technically a physician they can easily be excluded from the law - usually excluded from certain pt populations or insurance panels.

For pissing battles who cares.

Agreed. However, it has much more to do with insurances and reimbursements.

 

[dtrack22]

krabmas,

I get what you meant about the pre-med population. But our profession SHOULD care what they think to a certain degree.

Our applicant pool is way too small and it is at the root of many problems within our profession's education and training. Only way to change that is to reach out to pre-meds and present podiatry as a great opportunity as a medical profession.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

though i'll agree about the dorky premed comment..i dont know what you're talking about in reference to NP's and CRNA's making more than physicians...it just doesnt happen..even the lowest paid family docs make nearly 200k if they work 40 hours a week. thats if they are lazy...any specialist has to really suck to not break the 300k-500k/year mark. please show me jobs where you work a lot less to make this kind of money - ( and every single person in the field makes that amount of money) ..you don't find this in law, business, Venture capitalism, entertainment, nowhere. only in medicine.

as far as the poll is concerned, i think nearly 1300+ people voted on there. they can't all be ignorant 19 year old premeds.

I'm afraid to burst your bubble here, but most family docs pull in less than 200k. Average in my state is about 160 and I seem to recall reading that the national average was around that area too. CRNAs commonly pull in that much. You're spot on about the NPs though, however you have to include pediatricians in this mix as they usually make substantially less than the rest of medicine and CRNAs are most likely to outpace them, salary wise.

 

[msa786]

This topic again?!

 

[AGDPM]

@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } I think the choices should have been k-type. LOL! If we use wikipedia to define physician, most of the choices, if not all, would fall into the term physician. If we use the Bureau of Labor and Statistics only two of the choices would be correct, MDs and DOs. I think it's time for the government, both state and federal, to update their language to the present and modern medical times. The AMA and AOA need to accept that DPM's are specialist of the foot and ankle and are more than capable of performing at their level in general medicine. They should stop lobbying with money that could be used to find cures and fund research. If a few DPMs want to practice general medicine they should be allowed to get more training after their residency, like a fellowship in internal medicine or general medicine. We, as future DPMs, should be able to preserve our uniqueness as specialist of the foot and ankle first and then go for more training towards general medicine without the AMA or AOA breathing down our necks. They should also realize that there is a shortage of primary care physicians, and as I mention earlier should let DPMs help with the shortage. Why should we have to take their boards? When the material is similar in the first step and a little different in the second. Can we just take their second step after we are done with residency, solely to enter a general medicine fellowship? They should stop complaining that our curriculum is different and focus on how parity is reach for the practice of general medicine for the general population in the United States. I would prefer to focus my time as foot and ankle specialist but would like my peers who choose to practice only general medicine be allowed to after more training. 🙂

 

[janV88]

"$1800-2200 it's killing this country as far as some of these studies that we order for defensive medicine. There's nothing I hate more than a 12 or 13 yr old that comes to my office from the Pediatrician with bilateral MRIs because they have had bilateral knee pain for 6 months and they are of course normal. And that's just an unbelievable waste and it still happens today in 2010. So just keep this in mind, an MRI is an adjunct to your test. You really gotta know what you're looking for if you don't, that's what we're around for. And I don't blame anyone for that cause I don't know anything about blood pressure or EKGs or any of that garbage. That's not my thing. And I don't try to do that. So use us for what we do and we will use anybody else for what they do."

-Orthopedic Surgeon who gave a lecture at Scholl College/Chicago Medical School

I know I've said this many times on this forum. Everyone has their "specialty". Podiatrists are foot and ankle specialists. Just like Ophthalmologists are eye specialists. We should do what we do best and that's it.