03/30/2016    Joseph C. Smith, DPM

Class sizes at podiatry schools should... (David E Samuel, DPM)

In response to Drs. Samuel’s and Ross’ comments
regarding students, schools, and residencies, I
first must congratulate the actions that took
place last week in Washington, DC by the APMA
Board and the 2016 House of Delegates. A
conscious effort was made to address those very
issues. Those issues are much more complex than
just creating new residencies or lowering the
number of students allowed in our schools.
They are issues that greatly affect our
profession and must be dealt with on many
different levels. Our profession will fail and
we will cease to exist if these issues are not
addressed and changes are not made soon.

We, as a profession, need to address three
things to grow and remain relevant. First, we
need to market and create additional forefoot
surgical residency programs, not just the
rearfoot programs. Currently, there are 225
residency programs available on the CPME web
site. Of those 225 programs, only 14 are
Podiatric Medical and Surgical Residencies
(PMSR) and the rest (211) are Podiatric Medical
and Surgical Residency programs with the
additional Reconstructive Rearfoot/Ankle
Surgery Certification (PMSR/RRA).

I believe that the key to the residency issue
is to let potential residency directors know
that they can create a program that only
focuses on forefoot surgery and medicine
(PMSR).

Secondly, we need to do a better job at
marketing our profession to undergraduate
colleges/universities. This year at the APMA
HOD, our State Association invited two students
from the Temple school to observe what happens
at the House. One of the students was from
Villanova and the other was from U Mass and
neither of them heard about podiatry from a
counselor at their respective schools.

We need to find a way to incentivize these
counselors, just like the allopathic and
osteopathic schools do, to direct students to
our profession. We also need to go back to a
grass roots approach to recruiting qualified
students. It is our responsibility to go back
to our alma maters and talk to potential
students.

Finally, we need to take the caps off of our
school’s enrollment. While other health
professions are increasing their numbers by 25
to 35%, we are preventing our own growth. By
limiting the number of qualifies students that
the schools can take, we are preventing the
growth of our profession. In a time when the
Affordable Care Act has introduced millions
more into the ranks of the insured and when
diabetes has become an epidemic, we have failed
to grow our numbers.

In essence, we are creating our own vacuum,
allowing the likes of certified nurse
practioners and physician assistants to step in
and fill the void created by an inability to
grow the profession and meet the needs of the
public.
In his inaugural speech, the new APMA
President, Dr. Dan Davis has committed to
immediately addressing these issues. The APMA
realizes that the larger qualified applicant
pool, the increased number of students, and the
residency availability are all related and are
crucial to the growth of our profession. In
the next few months, Dr. Davis and the APMA,
with the help of all related parties, will
draft an action plan to address these problems
so that we can correct them and continue to
make our profession grow and prosper for the
benefit of all.

Joseph C. Smith, DPM, Reading, PA, Past
President, Pennsylvania Podiatric Medical
Association

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