I must correct Dr. Markinson's historical take
on the profession and the ABPS's role. In the
early 1990s, ABPS did go to hospital's and
promote their credential. This was a time when
hospitals did not allow podiatrists to become
members of the active medical staff. They never
said they were the only credential just that
they were a credential in podiatry.
This was shown when the ABPS finally won a
lawsuit that was brought by a competing board.
The other boards can and do promote their
credential to insurance companies and hospitals
as they should. The ABPS never went to any
hospital and said "we are the only board" in
podiatry!
This is just one part of the story. The other
being the weak training model that was proposed
for the RPR and PPMR podiatry programs. These
programs were just the poor cousins of the
surgical programs. It is remarkable to me that
it was the surgical board (ABPS) that was
pushing for a strong medical program model by
the end of the 1990's but were drowned out by
the "grassroots".
In any of the hospitals that I have played a
role in credentialing, any board qualified or
certified podiatrist may gain acceptance to the
medical staff from either board, but to gain
entry to the operating room, one must show
training for the procedures requested.
Besides that, most of the the skills that Dr.
Markinson writes about do not require hospital
or surgical center membership. This is not
elitist in any way, and only helps serve the
public. There is not enough resources in most
hospitals to train residents in biomechanics,
orthotics, prosthetics, dermatology, and the
other areas of podiatric medicine that is needed
to fore-fill the void that is presently being
supplied by other professions.
Three years, I believe, is too short a time to
develop a well-rounded surgeon of the foot and
ankle never mind everything else this profession
needs.
Charles M Lombardi, DPM, Flushing, NY,
chazdpm@aol.com
