02/17/2025    Allen M. Jacobs, DPM

American Foot Care Nurses Association (James DiResta, DPM, MPH)

Dr. DiResta appears to be somewhat concerned that
a podiatrist is serving as an instructor in foot
care for nurses. I wonder if orthopedic surgeons
express the same concern to their colleagues who
participate in podiatric medical and surgical
education. After all, by doing so you are aiding
and abetting the competition (enemy), are you not?
At the NYSPMA association meeting this year, there
were interactive panels with orthopedic surgeons,
and a program in which dermatologists were
instructing in the evaluation and treatment of
foot and ankle dermatologic disorders. Should they
have refused to do so over concern for decreased
patient revenue?

Some years ago, Dr. James Ganley asked me if I
would be comfortable teaching family medicine
residents how to manage ingrown toenails and
common foot problems. He told me that he regularly
instructed non-podiatrists in the evaluation and
treatment of common foot disorders. His reasoning
made sense to me. First of all, he told me that by
education of "the competition", he found that
whatever decreased patient load he might
experience was replaced by referrals for much more
complex pathology. Secondly, he found that by
educating others, they realized that many
seemingly simple problems were more complex and
required greater knowledge and experience than
they had perceived, again resulting in more
referrals. Finally, Dr. Ganley reminded me that if
alternative health care providers were going to
evaluate and treat foot pathology, we have an
obligation to instruct them in proper evaluation
and technique, serving the public well-being in
priority to our own self-interest.

I have always willingly and enthusiastically
participated in the education of MDs, DOs, DCs,
NPs, whomever. It affords me the opportunity to
highlight the podiatry profession, to show them
how we evaluate and treat foot and ankle
pathology. In my experience, non-podiatrists are
appreciative of the discussions, and consistently
rate these presentations as amongthe best at their
seminars. What I sell is not podiatry per se, but
the knowledge and experience that you have,
providing them with education and insight. What
follows is respect for the DPM degree, and not
infrequently new referral sources. The more they
learn, the more they realize that which they did
not know. And with that is an appreciation of our
profession. As Mark Twain so aptly stated; " It
ain't what you don't know that gets you into
trouble. It's what you know for sure that just
ain't so".

Allen M. Jacobs, DPM, St. Louis, MO

There are no more messages in this thread.