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05/14/2021 Frank Kase, DPM
AMA To Consider Resolution With Goal of Allowing DPMS to Take USMLE Exams
For those of you who have taken the time to read the white paper as well as the Resolution I think you will find that many of the comments that have been made by some PM News readers are incorrect, let me give you some of the tenets of the Resolution: 1. The document has been developed to allow GRADUATES of a CPME approved podiatric medical schools to have access to take the USMLE. Remember that the NBME controls who can sit for the USMLE, and at this time podiatric medical students are prohibited from sitting for the exam. The resolution asks for the AMA to evaluate if the CPME is COMPARABLE to the LCME not to replace the CPME. It says GRADUATES, without specifying present students and residents. So potentially, anyone who is a graduate from a CPME accredited podiatric medical college, would be eligible to sit for the Exam; no one is left behind.
2. There has been again misrepresentation that in order for a podiatric physician or student to be able to sit for and pass all three parts of the USMLE that they graduate from an LCME approved college that is 100% false
3. There has been speculation that Podiatry residency programs must be ACGME approved. That too is not correct. One of our goals is that the residencies are considered COMPARABLE not equal to.
4. Our board certification process will not be changing. Submission and hopefully passage of this resolution at the AMA House of Delegates is the next step in the evolution of our specialty. Passage of this resolution and the eventuality of our podiatric medical students being able to sit for and pass the USMLE, the standard exam for recognition and eventual licensure as a physician, is the best chance for ensuring the success and future of our schools and the new generation of physicians with a specialty in podiatric medicine and surgery.
Please read the documents and white paper and be sure that you understand them. Do not be swayed by those who have obviously misinterpreted or do not understand the content of the documents. Our specialty will continue to thrive and flourish and this resolution will only positively impact its future and its members. Thank you for listening.
Frank Kase, DPM, Burbank, CA
Other messages in this thread:
05/14/2021 Bryan C. Markinson, DPM
AMA To Consider Resolution With Goal of Allowing DPMS to Take USMLE Exams From:(Allen Jacobs, DPM)
Since the backslapping, and kudos, and misinterpretation and queries about existing DPMs taking the USMLE have begun, I feel compelled to state my take on it. Dr. Allen Jacobs' very accurate, but hidden assessment is one I 100% agree with. The AAOS and AOFAS seems to have put APMA and ACFAS into a full nelson without any resistance whatsoever and forced them to cry "uncle." Any DPM with an iota of self-respect must condemn this statement in its entirety. For those who support it ask yourselves the following:
1) What do you think will happen if the AMA takes up this resolution to "study" our education from the top down to see how it compares to MD/DO? I'll tell you....it will be disemboweled pure and simple. You will see how the retrofit about simple addition of gynecology and psychology class that we have been espousing, will be the laughing stock of the medical community. Front and center you will see that the differences in the educational experience of a DPM will be hung out to dry publicly simply on how it does not match up. No mention will be made about anything good we hold as the domain of the DPM specialty training.
2) What makes you think that the NBME and the LCME will take on the project? If they do, the resolution already states that curriculum change will have to result in equal, not be "like." What DPM courses will be sacrificed to accommodate this? The second two years of podiatric medical education will be decimated. (See question 1)
3) Why would any talented college student commit to an MD curriculum AND a limited license to practice podiatry?
4) Have you taken a look at what else the AMA HOD has in store for us...mainly that you can't refer to yourself ever as a physician...thanks so much to all of our graduates in the past few years who have insisted on saying they went to "medical school" unchecked, unimpeded, not asked to stop.
5) Has the AACPM signed on this or even been consulted? Doubt it.
Also, consider this, the amount of retrofitting and change will be so monumental as to nullify this plan at its outset, and the "you can’t call yourself doctor" will pass and they will lobby every state legislature to follow it.
Have I misunderstood? I don't think so. If I have, then the ACFAS and APMA need to clarify.
Bryan C. Markinson, DPM, NY, NY
05/10/2021 Lawrence Oloff, DPM
AMA To Consider Resolution With Goal of Allowing DPMS to Take USMLE Exams (Bret Ribotsjy, DPM)
I just read the white paper from APMA. I am familiar with similar efforts by CPMA. As with Dr. Ribotsky, I too am trying to understand what this agreement accomplishes. I keep hearing mention made that this is important to Podiatry if we are to gain acceptance by MDs. I thought that Podiatry acceptance by MDs was obtained by providing good medical care. Isn’t that how we gain the greatest acceptance? A limited license will still label Podiatry as different. I think it is a mistake to throw out all the advances made in postgraduate education which defines podiatry as it exists today.
I remember when I was Dean at the California College many years ago, a group from the state came in to compare Podiatry education with Allopathic Medical education. The capsular version of their results was that the educational process was essentially the same, with the only major exceptions being women’s medicine and behavioral medicine. That was it. If the profession feels that it is important for the AMA to call us limited physicians, then add these courses. Make our medicine courses more robust. After that, who now decides which courses are thrown out to make room for more courses on psychiatry? Should we cancel biomechanics?
Dr. Ribotsky brings out some good points. I would add this: what has been proposed is a slippery slope. Examinations often steer the education process. Faculty from colleges presently sit on our examination committees. These same faculty take back to their respective college perspectives on examinations and how curriculum should be fashioned for students to successfully complete those exams. This is the case of the tail wagging the dog - doctors being trained to pass an examination, not trained on what makes the best doctor. This is just the way of the world. Will podiatry faculty be sitting on USMLE examination committees? If not, then our students will be disadvantaged when they take the examinations. Also, it takes time for curriculum to adjust to a new exam. I would not be surprised if our students did poorly the first few years or longer after the change to the USMLE. This performance would in no way reflect the quality of our students, but rather the inability of our college faculty to adjust to the new examination in a timely fashion. Would this poor performance record by our students than be negatively used against us by adversaries? I just feel uncomfortable that this has not been thought out deep enough.
We all have had podiatry insecurities at some time. I remember when I was a second year student, and was feeling those insecurities about podiatry. I applied to medical school and was accepted. For many reasons I turned that down. I am happy that I made that decision. You want to be accepted and treated like any other physician, the bottom line is just do good work.
Lawrence Oloff, DPM, Daly City, CA
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