Help for Anonymous

Please point out which of these are not fact and only opinion.

This list of 50 is a list of FACTS and now will have been up for the 3rd time. Nobody has challenged it yet (aside from yourself in a weak stab at dismissing it based on something you saw on the Discovery Channel).

I'll give you another shot at proving these FACTS wrong. And if you're going to try and sound like an intellectual and give me this bogus "logic" explanation, you'll have to do better than that.

MONEY

1. Poor pay in the first 5 years plus
2. Poor residency pay (sometimes nothing)
3. Embarassing "salaries" offered to graduating residents
4. Very few opportunities for fellowships, etc.
5. Lack of respect from insurers
6. Lack of respect from other health providers (re: fewer referrals).
7. No loan repayment programs
8. Inability to get on health plans without surgical training. Inability to get on some health plans despite surgical training because of limits or no need for DPM's
9. Overabundance of DPM's in areas that humans choose to live
10. Lack of support from schools, organizations
11. Huge competition from all kinds of health practitioners (take your pick)
12. Good hours does not equal good income (biggest myth)
13. Podiatry is number one loan default group compared with other health professionals (MD's, DO's, DDS)
14. Podiatry is more highly scrutinized by insurance fraud departments
15. Lack of marketability of DPM degree vs. MD or DO

EDUCATION

17. Lack of surgical programs for all graduating seniors (but it is improving).
18. Embarassingly low number of applicants
19. Embarassing "criteria" that incoming students must meet.
20. "Residency training" is often neither a residency nor training
21. Spotty, at best, clinical training in school
22. Uneven training among the schools
23. Lottery style 4th year clinicals which further leads some to be less trained.
24. Failure to adequately prepare students to function without embarassment at big hospitals when they finally do get into their "residency" programs.
25. Totally uneven skills among DPM's reflecting wildly uneven training.

RESPECT/ETHICS

26. Lack of respect from health community and, often, community at large who frequently question your education and title of "doctor"
27. The embarassing lack of original research in podiatry.
28. The embarassing podiatry based magazines and periodicals
29. Some schools no longer require the MCAT (and, rumor has it, an observable GPA), but in an attempt to gain some semblance of respect, some require the GRE...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!?????
30. Incredibly low admissions standards among the schools (which, in reality, may not even exist)
31. Tendency for established DPM's to "eat their young"
32. Failure of most established pods to offer help or a reasonable salary to fresh grads
33. Failure of schools to be upfront with the realities of podiatry.
34. Political style of residency matching
35. Lack of merit in residency match system
36. The actual need for organized podiatry to send out a mass-mail CD-ROM to prospective med students filling it with dubious facts. That'll build respect for the profession! BLECCHHH!!
37. DPM's needing the OK from an MD or DO to cut nails/calluses at nursing homes. THAT'S respect for ya!
38. Lack of respect of DPM degree outside the U.S
39. Lack of respect for podiatry curricula amongst MD and DO schools (not a single unit can transfer...even overseas!).
MISCELLANEOUS

40. The overwhelming negative vibe on podiatry forums (everwhere you look)
41. The actual NEED for a "negativity" disclaimer on the Podiatry Forum (when no such thing exists on any other health related forum)
42. Medicare is slowly clamping down on the bread and butter of podiatry (nails and calluses).
43. The fact that most current grads act more like chiropodists than DPM's reflecting the uneven training and lack of opportunities.
44. Fewer pods in the future translates into fewer pods joining the already sparse and ineffective organizations. This means many more future battles lost to more powerful entities.
45. Difficulty (if not outright impossibility) of practicing DPM's to find a reasonable PSR to complete their training.
46. Banks less apt to grant loans vs. MD or DO
47. DPM's have almost no jobs which will pay for incidentals such as health insurance, vacation, malpractice insurance, etc., whereas most MD's and DO's have such opportunities.
48. Extreme difficulty in "pulling up roots" if one chooses to move to a different area. MD's and DO's can find jobs all over the place. DPM's can't.
49. Residencies that simply cancel the program in mid step.
50. CCPM's ludicrous adventures in mismanagement!