08/24/2013    William Deutsch, DPM

I Want to Work as a Podiatrist (Sarah Montgomery, DPM)

How is this situation different from any other
scam? Enroll into a school to get a degree, then
find you can't get a license or insurance
because the implied continuation of that
education, a preposterous three year residency
requirement, is illusory. The length of the
residency is preposterous for performing most of
what podiatry care comprises.

The 3-year residency requirement has become an
educational but more a political solution to
counter the lack of acceptance by allopathic
medicine. But does any podiatrist really think
an orthopedist is going to respect a podiatrist
more because of a three year residency? A
podiatrist isn't an MD regardless of the years
of training and that won't change even with a 5
year residency.

For years podiatrists practiced successfully
with either no residency or a year-long
residency. The short term solution is to secure
at least a one year residency to all graduating
students. The APMA will have to backtrack and
certify this is as sufficient training for
licensure and offer two or three year programs
to those who want to continue their education.
But at least the specter of impoverished ghosts
wandering about with a worthless degree won't
haunt podiatry and embarrass the profession. In
the meantime efforts can be made to increase the
number of 3-year programs. There was obviously a
rush to mandate a 3-year residency requirement
without consideration that the demand exceeded
the slots. And I doubt schools will voluntarily
limit class size since it isn't in their
interest.

The profession has made a mess of things and
it's up to the profession to rectify it.
Otherwise, lawsuits will propel podiatry into
further embarrassment. If I were a graduate with
a worthless degree I would be hunting for a good
lawyer. At the present time the only remedy for
this poor podiatry school graduate is a
lawsuit.

William Deutsch, DPM, Valley Stream, NY,
woollfy1@yahoo.com

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