Some intriguing thoughts

I guess I haven't seen the whole thread on this, but some of your comments piqued my interest. Mostly, I think I'm responding to your post because of your less than respectful demeanor to RD.

Here's a good one: "any idiot can get into medical school". Really? I personally know of several people (none of which are idiots) who are still trying to get in. In fact, I know of several other people (who were in my 1st year DO class last year) who were clearly not idiots who were unable to successfully navigate the extremely difficult curriculum. What's funny is I DO know of several idiots who were not only granted entry into my podiatry school (the former CCPM - 1994), but who subsequently graduated (with me) much to my surprise. Suffice to say that there are idiots all over the place, but as far as I know, it's a lot easier to get into pod school than MD or DO school. As far as bringing up those far flung "medical schools" like Tampeco, Sparta, Santo Domingo, etc., I don't doubt that their entry requirements are rather lax when compared to stateside medical schools. But, then again, there are far fewer guarantees when you get into one of those and you may not even legally practice medicine when you're finished. Besides that, the licensing exams for MD's and DO's are actually challenging. This is in contrast to the SINGLE podiatry licensing exam (which I passed and was embarrassed at how easy it was).

Nursing home patients certainly do enjoy having their nails cut. I did it as a 4th year extern (for a solid month) and lined the pockets of my "mentor" for my troubles. I figured that I pretty much got the gist of nail debridement after the 2nd or 3rd day (that is after cutting hundreds of pounds of toenails as a student during my "rotations" and as a volunteer). Somebody does have to debride the nails of a number of these patients, but do you really think that the person needs to invest upwards of 200k in school (me) and have a post-graduate residency to do it?

Ok, ok, I can hear it now - What about dermatologists? Sure, they freeze off AK's and the like, but most of these skin lesions, if left untreated, could develop into more serious problems. There are also other examples of benign conditions that physicians encounter, but I'd feel more useful as a doctor is these were the exceptions rather than the rule (meaning that many pods base their practices on benign nail debridement, keratoma debridement and orthotic "prescriptions"). The only exception that I can think of for a DPM in this regard is if the patient is either neuropathic or on blood thinners. In those cases, there should be a professional. But, I can tell you in my experience, the vast, vast majority of patients who see pods for routine debridement do not fall into either of those categories. And, more to the point, derms are better paid, better respected in the medical community, have extremely good lifestyles, have little trouble getting on good health plans and don't have to explain their training to the public ad nauseum.

Here's another good one: "US schools have a hard time filling their quotas as well". You're kidding me, right? Which medical schools are having a hard time filling their quotas? If they can't find enough QUALIFIED applicants in their own state, they simply pick from other states (and countries). An example of this would be Arizona. But, if you're implying that "any idiot" can get into a stateside medical school because they're begging for applicants you'll need to show me some hard evidence.

I never get tired of hearing this one: "BTW I got into mainstream US medical schools, just chose podiatry due to my exposure to it in my formative years". This statement has always intrigued me. I'm curious - just what was it about podiatry education and the podiatry profession that compelled you to ditch your offers in mainstream med schools? Was it the "good family life"? The "good work hours"? Did you have a sweetheart deal set up after training?

Dissing dermatologists is not a very effective argument. I've never had a derm refer a derm problem to me. Nor have I ever experienced this in my residency. In fact, I've never, ever heard of a derm referring a derm problem to a podiatrist. You must be a pretty special DPM for a dermatologist to refer a melanoma to you.

Here's my unsolicited opinion: Many of my colleaugues are struggling financially even 5-6 years post-residency. One is doing fine. He was the Validectorian. I had a 3.5 GPA and was well liked by my professors and clinicians. After going through many ridiculous pimp residency interviews, I ended up with a one year PPMR. If you're in the business, you'll know that this doesn't typically lead to fame and fortune in podiatry. I was too poor and too much in debt to consider searching for a one year surgical (and get paid God knows what). One of my friends didn't match. He had to take an unfunded position. Oh yeah, he also has a family with 3 kids. Another friend failed to match two years in a row. He is now selling insurance (he sometimes posts on this forum - Jeff Davids). I was paid a 10k stipend in my residency (1999-2000). This meant that I had to wait tables on the weekends. There were a couple of guys in my residency who went on food stamps (no kidding). I guess I felt somewhat indignated after these events (and many others) especially in light of my heinous debt.

I gave up podiatry after 3 years of working in a Medi-Medi mill and decided to go to DO school. I had to retake the MCAT and could not transfer a single unit of work. There were many people in my class of 1998 who preferred MD or DO school over podiatry school, but they couldn't get in (I was in the same position so I asked a lot). There wasn't a single person who I encountered in my DO class who knew anything about podiatry. Most of them were under the impression that it was some kind of "accessory" health profession. Fortunately, at this point, I no longer have to explain it. When I graduated podiatry school and finished my residency there were virtually no jobs offered. How many jobs (that pay reasonable salaries with reasonable benefits) can you find on the internet or in the pod journals? I found zero. Especially with no formal surgical training.

Let me just briefly compare these points with MD/DO school:

I don't know of any MD's or DO's who are struggling financially (there may be some, but I don't know of any). There are many MD schools where, if you qualify, you will be charged relatively little for tuition. All pod schools are private and very expensive. Everyone who graduates MD/DO school (at least stateside) are GUARANTEED some sort of DECENT residency. You will be fully trained and there will be no question about your qualifications. Not so for podiatry. And these are all REAL residencies where you are trained to be a full body physician. In my day (which wasn't that long ago), there was certainly no such guarantee in podiatry. MD/DO residency interviews focus solely on the social aspects. They don't ask you arcane, cryptic questions on medicine/podiatry to see what kind of memorization freak you are. Getting into an MD/DO residency is based primarily on merit. The interview, for the most part, is just to make sure you're not a sociopath. Not so for podiatry. There has never been something as pathetic as a one year "residency" in MD/DO history. Only in podiatry. I have never, ever heard of a student in MD/DO school who tried to get into podiatry school, but couldn't do it. Moreover, I've never heard of an MD/DO student who wanted to switch to podiatry school. Not many people know much about DO's...however, everyone knows what a cardiologist, family practitioner, internist, etc is. All MD/DO residencies pay you a living wage. When I was a resident, not so.

And, just as a side, you can use your MD degree anywhere in the world. You can also use your DO degree in most parts of the world (and the number of countries who will accept your degree is steadily increasing). You cannot take your DPM degree outside the U.S. In fact, you can't even practice podiatry unhindered in every state. Some states have restrictions. You can moonlight as an MD/DO resident and make pretty good money. Not much you can do as a pod resident other than cut toenails for a pittance. You are also required to co-admit a patient into the hospital with an MD or DO. They aren't required to get your permission to admit a patient.

Despite what you might think, I have lots of respect for most podiatrists. I've encountered many who were brilliant clinicians and technicians. I'm pissed because I feel I got an inferior education and wasn't told everything up front. I'm pissed because of the inequities in podiatry and the lack of a uniform, comprehensive residency (in my time). I should have done more research and I plead guilty on that one. I'm in DO school now and I'll say that while the curriculum thus far is pretty similar, the exams are much, much more difficult (anatomy, in particular, was light years more challenging than what I experienced in pod school).

Cheers