Podiatry: To the Max

I was fortunate enough to have had the experience of what I perceived to be an excellent residency program with a focus on surgery and limb salvage. Furthermore, upon completion of my residency I began work in an area that held podiatry in the highest esteem. Laws, regulations, hospital policies, and our orthopedic counterparts all were in favor of podiatry and its role as a key component in the medical community. Podiatry, as a group, was expected to take calls for the hospitals and the emergency departments. Although not completely, podiatry in this area had obtained what it had striven for, equality.

Podiatry: Quiet and Comfortable

It was just this past year when I moved away from this area to a smaller southern city. To my surprise, podiatry was viewed much differently from that of which I was trained and where I started my career. In my new location, podiatric care is relegated to an office setting and to the surrounding surgery centers. “Politics” reigns supreme in my new Southern home and podiatrists are kept “out” of the hospital setting.& While for many, myself included, this may seem an outrage, for those podiatrists that had been here for years prior to myself, it had become a comfortable and pleasant arrangement. It did not take me long to realize my boundaries and I quickly realized that I could no longer manage urgent limb salvage cases or acute trauma. The environment was prohibitive of this. I gradually adjusted to the change, as did my ego, and I soon also realized that I would never be called by the hospital or the emergency department and I would never again need to “round on patients”. In my current practice, I still treat diabetic wounds; I still treat forefoot and hindfoot trauma; and I still perform forefoot and rearfoot surgery. In this setting however, it is non-urgent. I am home in the evenings and have my weekends to spend with family and pursuing my hobbies.

What Style of Practice Do You Seek?

My advice to new practitioners and residents; research where you want to be and understand that laws vary according to the area of the country as well as within different areas of each state. If you are hoping to pursue a career in trauma or complex reconstruction, look for an area where hospitals grant such privileges and the medical community is accepting; or be willing to fight for these privileges. Talk with the podiatrists in the area in regards to their affiliations and association with other medical practitioners and hospital adjuncts. Location is more than where you live; it affects your lifestyle and how you practice.

In addition to CME credit from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, podiatrists can now get CPME credit from the prestigious Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine by viewing the latest lectures on diabetic foot care on the PRESENT Diabetes web site.