09/03/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) - PART 2
RE: I Want to Work as a Podiatrist (Ivar Roth, DPM, MPH)
From: Dale Feinberg, DPM
I was amused at Dr. Roth's suggestion that all non-surgical based podiatrists send "qualified foot surgeons" all their surgical cases, and that possibly these "surgeons" would refer their non-surgical cases back to those "lesser" trained DPMs. He does not have his facts straight when he compares us to dentistry, where specialty trained dentists like oral surgeons are by law not permitted to do general dentistry. If I want to be insulted and belittled, I can just have a friendly conversation with my local orthopedic surgeon. But then again, he might actually give me a referral for nail debridement.
Dale Feinberg, DPM, CPed, Yuma, AZ, hd5bl@aol.com
08/26/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) -PART 2
RE: I Want to Work as a Podiatrist (Sarah Montgomery, DPM)
From: Don Peacock, DPM
There are more than a few reasons that we have a deplorable number of unmatched doctors this year. One rationale has to do with the way residencies are scrutinized by the approval process. I was fortunate to realize my training in the Memphis surgical residency program. This program had been in existence for more than 20 years when I was a resident there. The residency was hands-on, high volume (1,200 cases per year) with lots to do for the two residents there. Regrettably, increased rules and regulations in the residency approval process led to the closing of the Memphis residency several years ago.
Additional issues also remain in the way of our equals getting trained. An unmatched doctor could easily get surgical training by simply...
Editor's note: Dr. Peacock's extended-length letter can be read here.
08/26/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) -PART 1
RE: Residency CONCLAVE Cancelled
From Bret Ribotsky, DPM
Organized podiatry will not participate in the CONCLAVE (Collaborative-Organized-Need-to-Combat-Lack-in-Advanced-Education) that I suggested in early August to deal with the residency crisis. I received a letter signed by Robert Yoho, DPM, AACPM Chairman; Jeffrey Robbins, DPM, COTH Chairman; Gregg Young, DPM, Balance Committee Chair; James Stavosky, DPM, ABPM President; Randall Dei, DPM, ABPS President; Kathleen Satterfield, DPM, ACFAOM President; Jordan Grossman, DPM, ACFAS President; Matthew Garoufalis, DPM, APMA President; Stephen Schmid, DPM, APMA-Young Physicians; Kyle Duncan, APMSA President; David Yeager, DPM, ASPS Chair; and Timothy Ford, CPM CPME Chair.
Without the stakeholders participating, creating an implementable plan is a long shot. Thus, I am cancelling the conclave scheduled. I look forward to other suggestions.
Bret Ribotsky, DPM, Boca Raton, FL, ribotsky@gmail.com
08/26/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) - PART 3
RE: I Want to Work as a Podiatrist (Brian Kiel, DPM)
From: Juliet Burk, DPM
Brian, I’m sure you meant well, but ascribing a professional failure as a possible personality problem is absolutely not helpful or kind. You have no way of knowing if it is or isn’t true, and it serves no benefit to say, unless it is to absolve yourself of personal guilt for the current situation in podiatry, as well as to unnecessarily hurt someone’s feelings. I, for one, struggled very hard to carve out a niche professionally.
I was personable, a graduate with distinction, and did not match in my graduation year because, as a female, I had...
Editor's note: Dr. Burk's extended-length letter can be read here.
Juliet Burk, DPM, Muskogee, OK, juliet-burk@cherokee.org
08/24/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) -PART 2B
RE: I Want to Work as a Podiatrist (Sarah Montgomery, DPM)
From: Brian Kiel, DPM
I write this opinion with great hesitation, but I think it must be said. The letter from "Sarah", who has been trying to get a residency since 2010 was quite depressing in several ways. Obviously, it is sad that someone has put in the time, effort, and expense to attain a DPM degree and is unable to use it. It is also very sad that she is not an isolated case. However, there is another issue that must be faced. Perhaps being a podiatrist is not the right profession.
I have to question what is the issue when someone cannot get a position after 3 years of...
Editor's note: Dr. Kiel's extended-length letter can be read here.
08/24/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) -PART 2A
RE: I Want to Work as a Podiatrist (Sarah Montgomery, DPM)
From: William Deutsch, DPM
How is this situation different from any other scam? Enroll into a school to get a degree, then find you can't get a license or insurance because the implied continuation of that education, a preposterous three year residency requirement, is illusory. The length of the residency is preposterous for performing most of what podiatry care comprises.
The 3-year residency requirement has become an educational, but more a political solution to counter the lack of acceptance by allopathic medicine. But does any podiatrist really think an orthopedist is...
Editor's note: Dr. Deutsch's extended-length letter can be read here.
08/06/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) -PART 1B
RE: Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 80
From: Joel Lang, DPM
For the past few weeks, I have read with sadness and disbelief that our profession has created a crisis in which as many as 20% of our successful graduates may never be unable to practice their profession, destined to a life of insurmountable debt and inevitable despair.
The reactive postings about this tragedy have varied from desperation, blaming our leadership and our corporate hierarchy, and even blaming the victims for not being creative enough to solve their own problems. It’s a little like blaming rape victims for...
Editor's note: Dr. Lang's extended-length letter can be read here.
08/06/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) - PART 2
RE: Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 80 (Richard Gosnay, DPM)
From: Unmatched Podiatric Graduate (KSUCPM)
Dr. Gosnay’s comment that the APMA or CPME are not to blame for the residency shortage is absolutely outrageous. The CPME is not just an accreditation arm of the APMA; it's also supposed to make sure the colleges do not take in too many students. The CPME approved the addition of a new podiatry college at the same time that it recognized the likelihood that a residency shortage was on the horizon.
At the same time, as the latest podiatry college was matriculating its charter class, the CPME allowed at least one other college to take more students than they were approved to take. Dr. Gosnay suggests that...
Editor's note: This extended-length letter can be read here.
07/30/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS)
RE: Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 86
From: Unmatched Podiatric Graduate
I am one of the DPM graduates who did not place into residency. While many before me have written about the causes of the residency crisis, no one seems to have proposed any solutions beyond vague assertions to the effect that we need more residencies. Furthermore, no one seems to have a good answer to the question of what is to become of my colleagues and me. I am writing today to propose a solution that I believe many will find acceptable.
I would characterize the residency "job market," so to speak, by two salient features. Firstly, there are nine colleges of podiatric medicine that maintain enrollment...
Editor's comment: This extended-length letter can be read here.
07/24/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) -PART 1B
RE: Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 86 (Unmatched Podiatric Graduate)
From: Robert Kornfeld, DPM
I am quite amazed at Unmatched Podiatric Graduate's "polite restraint" when, in fact, there is certainly cause for outright rage. Instead of going on medication to deal with the stress of being "left out in the cold", this thoughtful and centered DPM should be in a residency program. Am I surprised that administrators have turned their back on this and all of the other unmatched DPMs? Absolutely not. I have been in podiatry my entire life (my father was a 1950 graduate of NYCPM).
I am a 1980 graduate of NYCPM. My experience in podiatry has been excellent personally (because...
Editor's note: Dr. Kornfeld's extended-length letter can be read here.
07/24/2013
RESPONSES / COMMENTS (RESIDENCY CRISIS) -PART 1A
RE: Unmatched Residency Placements Currently Stand at 86 (Unmatched Podiatric Graduate)
From: Robert Scott Steinberg, DPM
I hope while everyone from the APMA is whooping-it-up in Party Town USA, that someone grabs a microphone and demands answers. Give the APMA the foot, if need be.
Robert Scott Steinberg, DPM, Schaumburg, IL, Doc@FootSportsDoc.com
