04/03/2019    David Secord, DPM

Using a DPM Degree Outside of Podiatry (Ira Baum, DPM)

I first heard discussion of how we don’t attend
medical school from one of my attendings during
my residency at the Graduate Hospital under
Harold Schoenhaus. I’ve heard this several times
during my time in practice. The real litmus test
for this meme would be asking someone who
attending podiatric medical school and then
attended a medical school which rendered an MD
degree. This all leads towards the discussion of
podiatrists having gone to medical school or not.
I went to medical school. I just didn’t go to one
that yields an MD or DO behind my name.

I started becoming more militant about this point
when the guy I had as a 3rd and 4th year roommate
went on after podiatric medical school to get an
MD. He graduated 1st in our class at Temple, and
1st in his class at Robert Wood Johnson Medical
School in New Jersey. He is currently a
cardiovascular surgeon at the Mayo Clinic at
Rochester, Minnesota. It gave me the rare
opportunity to pick his brain on the differences
in the curricula of the DPM vs. the MD degree
programs. His conclusions: in MD school, they
spent more time on the brain in Gross Anatomy,
saw many more slides of organ systems in
Histology, spent more time on the central nervous
system in neuroanatomy and neurology. According
to him, that’s it. The rest of it was pretty much
the same.

Obviously, the 3rd and 4th year rotations are
more centered in on general and emergency
medicine and surgery, but in the world of
podiatry, so are our 3rd and 4th years centered
in on podiatric general medicine and podiatric
surgical concepts. He told me truthfully that he
spent far more time studying in podiatry school
and we had almost twice as many classes as the
curricula at Robert Wood Johnson. He’s one of my
best friends and has no reason to lie to me. As
such, I stopped excusing myself for not having an
MD behind my name, as it was my choice, the right
choice for me and because being an MD doesn’t
make you better than me.

I don’t consider myself to be a second-rate
medical provider because I don’t have an MD
behind my name. I have had the opportunity to see
some of the work of two of Dr. Mann’s foot and
ankle people, and I was not impressed that they
have any more appreciation for foot and ankle
biomechanics than any other orthopedic surgeon. I
do a FULL history and physical on every patient
(except genitalia and OBY/GYN) and funduscopic
examination of all diabetic patients, although
I’m careful with whose eyes I’m dilating.

So, according to a heart surgeon and podiatrist
(who does no podiatry) at the Mayo Clinic, the
gap between us is not a chasm.

David Secord, DPM, Corpus Christi, TX

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04/02/2019    Allen Jacobs, DPM

Using a DPM Degree Outside of Podiatry (Ira Baum, DPM)

Dr. Baum is correct in that the DPM should
receive “ equal pay for equal work “. The very
fact that he raises this point certifies my
position: the DPM degree IS NOT viewed as equal
to an MD or DO degree. If the DPM degree was
regarded as “equal”, this issue as other similar
issues would not exist. Legislation to engage
equal benefits (e.g.: payment, benefits,
inclusion in federally funded plans ) is one
thing. Suggesting that the didactic and clinical
education of a podiatrist is equivalent to an MD
is another.

The podiatrist is adequately educated for what a
podiatrist does. Just as a dentist is trained to
render dental services. It is one thing to build
houses in the sky. It is another thing to live in
those houses. Reality is what it is. We have a
pediatric affiliate. None of the leaders practice
in or are trusted by virtue of privileges to do
anything in any Shriners or major children’s
hospitals. We have sports medicine “leaders“ and
those who claim affiliations with professional
and division one teams. Yet how many of them are
actually entrusted by the team medical staff to
perform MAJOR surgical procedures on active team
members. How often do pharmaceutical companies
utilize DPMs for true research to qualify
medications. Even papers on tinea pedis and
onychomycosis are authored by MDs and not DPMs.

I am not suggesting that our profession does not
include eminently qualified individuals. To the
contrary, I believe we maintain many well trained
and qualified practitioners. There are many
success stories in the profession. Some have
risen to chief of staff, chief of surgery,
leaders in the ADA, designers and developers of
implants and surgical instrumentation, employees
of orthopedic and medical groups, and so on. They
are not the majority.

The essence of my characterization of the DPM
degree is that actions speak louder than words.
And generally the words which come from those
outside this profession are that the DPM degree
is not held as equal to the MD degree. As such,
the DPM degree has not been respected nor
rewarded in the same manner.

Allen Jacobs, DPM, St. Louis, MO