06/17/2022    Bryan C. Markinson, DPM

“Who wants to be a podiatrist?” (Allen Jacobs, DPM)

The calling for retrofitting the colleges of
podiatric medicine to educate the same as MD/DO
schools, making their graduates eligible for all
MD/DO residencies, seems to come with the fantasy
that podiatric medicine would actually be a desired
and ACGME approved residency choice, a sentiment
expressed often in this forum. That may be what
some want, whether or not they have thought it
through to what that would eventually look like. In
reality it would be the death of any semblance of
what podiatric practice currently is.

Even though some of our colleagues opine that
podiatric medicine as an MD/DO residency option
would be popular, I don’t think ACGME would, as for
the most part, ACGME residency choices extant,
pretty much have foot, ankle, and leg covered. Yes,
trust me, they have it covered. What they don’t
have covered is what our profession is trying to
extricate itself from; what the young DPM foot and
ankle reconstructive surgeon feels is beneath them;
no need to detail that here.

In spite of well-intentioned proclamations by
podiatry association leadership and some of its
practitioners of near equivalency in the
educational experience, we have been put on notice
with the recent task force fiasco that casting an
inappropriate shadow is, well, not the way to go.

Furthermore, the AMA is currently mobilizing
rapidly to aggressively position itself against ALL
increase/change scope legislation no matter what
non MD/DO profession is seeking it. Just ask the
physician assistants, who by just declaring a
designation change to “physician associate”, has
caused a groundswell of MD/DO opposition, with
claims of deception of the public regarding their
qualifications, amount of training, and ability.
Doctors of Podiatric Medicine will never be
considered exempt from the group of practitioners
that the AMA regards as trying to do the same.

As Dr. Jacobs and others have said, it’s time to
either have pride, and excel, in what you do, even
in spite of the well-known obstacles that all agree
may be unfair. Ironically, we have been told very
clearly that if you want the MD/DO life, good and
bad, just do what they have done, and you are in!
If you can’t get your head around that, proclaiming
you went to medical school, and denying the
designation of podiatrist, and other such self-
embellishments, hurts us and has done absolutely
nothing to resolve parity issues both fair (medical
school v podiatry school) and unfair (equal pay for
equal work).

Bryan C. Markinson, DPM, NY, NY

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