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02/25/2020 Don Peacock DPM, MS
Should a wound care rotation be a part of residency?
Residents need to be trained in surgery. During school, we are taught how to assess a patient from a biomechanical standpoint and how to cast orthotics. We certainly are taught how to administer palliative care and even contact casting. We are taught how to interpret vascular exams and do rotations through vascular departments while in school.
We were also taught how to do ingrown nails in school. I did ingrown nails with phenol procedures while I was in school. These things can easily be taught in a busy podiatric medical school clinic. In our fourth year, we do rotations through the various disciplines that we pick or we rotate through podiatric surgery residencies that perform both in-house and outpatient procedures and techniques.
We only have the residency years to learn as much surgery in the foot and ankle as you can. All podiatric surgical residents should have scrubbed and performed on a minimum of 1,000 cases before practice begins. Until these criteria are reached we are spinning the wheels. It makes no sense. You have to do surgery in your training and lots of it to be a trained podiatrist.
There are other things lacking in our training. Podiatric surgery residents need to be taught better surgical ways to handle wounds. Minimally invasive techniques are scientifically proven to outperform many traditional techniques for wound healing.
We are not taught any of these techniques in our surgical residencies. This is a tragedy. Search the literature for minimally invasive and percutaneous techniques for the resolve of ulcerations in the foot.
The fact that we are not teaching minimally invasive techniques for the purposes of wound care is absolutely crazy. It's an outright shame. Very few podiatrists know these techniques and cannot perform them. Our public searches minimally invasive procedures and the awareness is growing by leaps and bounds.
Some are afraid to start this type of training because of things that happened in the yesteryear. This is not the case today. We are dropping the ball and hurting our patients by not teaching percutaneous and MIS procedures in the foot and ankle as a part of the residency program.
Don Peacock DPM, MS, Whiteville, NC
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02/20/2020 Michael M. Rosenblatt, DPM
Should a wound care rotation be a part of residency? (Robin Lenz, DPM)
Robin Lenz, DPM recently wrote a letter explaining how important wound care issues are and should be a part of every DPM residency. I strongly agree. Some years before I retired, I heard an orthopedist who routinely used Achilles Tendon lengthening and gastrocnemius recession to treat very severe diabetic ulcerations, even for patients with very poor circulation. He presented sound evidence that this should be a “part of podiatric care” for diabetic ulcers. He made the point that DPMs should be doing MANY more of these than presently done. He also used some tendon releases in other tendons, but most of his surgery was gastroc recession and Achilles tendon lengthening.
When questioned about malpractice risk for patients with very poor circulation, he provided data that showed virtually NO amputations after his surgeries. I found this shocking and unexpected.
I had always thought that surgery on diabetics is rife with malpractice risk and that DPMs should be wary of attempting it. Perhaps this should be “restricted” to DPMs, DOs and MDs associated with a large medical group or academic environment that would provide deep pocket back-up. Or so I thought. This orthopedist strongly disagreed. (We should also mention that these types of procedures are available in minimal incision format which makes them even more attractive.)
This represents a “marriage” between foot and ankle biomechanics, foot type diagnosis, severe metabolic disease, ulcerations, and surgery. It fits together like a jigsaw puzzle. I present this argument with multiple literature references:
https://www.podiatrytoday.com/tendon- lengthening-best-treatment-diabetic-foot-ulcers Excellent bibliography of references
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268129 13_Midfoot_Ulcers_Treated_with_Gastrocnemius- Soleus_Recession
Surgery and ulcer healing in patients with equinus | Lower Extremity Review Magazine Excellent discussion of various types of tendon lengthening procedures. (Very good list of 11 specific references)
I applaud Dr. Lenz for very modern thinking about diabetic wound care. We are now graduating thousands of nurse-practitioners and others who are looking to take on a role in foot care. Surgery on diabetics and others with severe lesions are not only very successful (according to the literature), but also keeps us firmly planted in a range that is consonant with our excellent training. It keeps us relevant.
All indications point to a continued epidemic of Type II diabetes in our populations. This is an important arena where podiatrists can maintain their legitimacy in care we provide to patients.
Michael M. Rosenblatt, DPM, Henderson, NV
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