06/12/2024    Richard M. Maleski. DPM, RPh

APMA Policy 2-24. One Board Certification in Podiatry (Lee Rogers,, DPM)

While I appreciate the points Dr. Rogers brings up,
I still contend that there is a strong possibility
that some podiatrists will have difficulty
attaining board certification status if the
surgical portion of the board remains the same as
it is now. I've had the honor and privilege of
being on the faculty of the University of
Pittsburgh residency program since its inception in
2001, and also on the precursor program in
Pittsburgh before that. I've helped train over 130
residents and at least twice that number of
students over the 30 plus years of my career. I've
been a Residency Evaluator for CPME and have
evaluated about a dozen programs. Not all of the
aspiring podiatrists that have rotated through our
program and that I observed in the on-site
evaluations over the years have shown the aptitude
or the interest in pursuing surgery.

Granted, this number is very low, but it exists,
nonetheless. And why is this pertinent to podiatry
versus medicine? In medicine, medical students have
4 years of medical school to determine if they are
going to gravitate to a medical specialty or a
surgical specialty. In podiatry school, there is no
choice. The only residency training is podiatric
medicine AND surgery, as pointed out by Dr. Rogers.
So, the ob-gyn and ophthalmology residency trained
MDs that Dr. Rogers referenced have already
demonstrated an ability and interest in pursuing
these surgical specialties. It is reasonable to
assume that their chances to get certified in those
specialties would be greatly enhanced because they
already have shown an affinity to surgery.

In the past few years, the American Board of Foot
and Ankle Surgery has been criticized because of a
relatively low pass rate. Could this issue be due
to those few DPMs who never really had a real deep
desire to be a surgeon? Or maybe there are more
than just a few DPMs who haven't had a 100%
commitment to surgery? And I believe that surgery
requires a complete 100% commitment.

Dr. Rogers intimated that my generation of
podiatrists aren't all "surgical podiatrists" like
the younger generation. If his contention is true,
then just take the surgical boards and don't look
back. Or, keep both boards, and take and pass both
boards as I did, because you never know what the
future holds.

Richard M. Maleski. DPM, RPh, Pittsburgh, PA

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