[maxants33]

Hello Medics
I'm a podiatry student and I'm just wondering what kind of knowledge/training med students have with regard to podiatry? It seems medics I've met have very different levels of understanding of what podiatry is and what podiatrists do, e.g I've only met one medic who knew podiatrists could supply antibiotics and that some go on and further their training to perform foot and ankle surgery. Other medics I've met think we exclusively cut toe nails and are surprised we even do a BSc, but most I've met have never really thought about it.

What comes to mind when you think of the podiatric profession (other than simply 'feet')?

Many thanks!

[Sherbet]

I'm sticking around, I wanna know more about what podiatrists do, I looked into most healthcare professions like nursing, OT etc but I never got to learn about podiatry .

[maxants33]

Thanks for the reply Sherbert, podiatry is a pretty interesting little profession, its not all that big, only about 8000 pods out there in the UK, I guess its analogous to dentistry but of the feet. Its a very diverse field, maybe more so than dentistry, specialisms include the diabetic foot, foot surgery, biomechanics, rheumatology and podopediatrics. After the undergrad you can provide various mechanical therapies, toenail surgery + local anaesthetics, supply antibiotics and a few other drugs (from a limited list), interpret radiographs and ultrasound, and of course remove hard skin - all with regard to the foot. I'm hoping to go to India next summer to work in a Leprosy hospital as podiatry can be very helpful in making sure lepers keep both/most of there feet! If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them!

[Ergo]

I'll be a medic this semester, but podiatry was one field I was interested in if I did not make it into medicine. However, indeed not many have heard about podiatry. Perhaps this lack of awareness is due to 1) podiatry being offered mostly at universities that do not offer medicine and 2) podiatry being such a specialised field that sees only feet ailments (as compared to say, physiotherapy that sees a wider range of conditions and deals with more body systems). In fact, I only came to know about podiatry because I saw a newspaper article on it!

I definitely think there should be more inter-professional understanding involved for better patient treatment

[digitalis]

(Original post by maxants33)
Hello Medics
I'm a podiatry student and I'm just wondering what kind of knowledge/training med students have with regard to podiatry? It seems medics I've met have very different levels of understanding of what podiatry is and what podiatrists do, e.g I've only met one medic who knew podiatrists could supply antibiotics and that some go on and further their training to perform foot and ankle surgery. Other medics I've met think we exclusively cut toe nails and are surprised we even do a BSc, but most I've met have never really thought about it.

What comes to mind when you think of the podiatric profession (other than simply 'feet')?

Many thanks!

Something to do with feet. Ingrown toenails and diabetes. Difficult to access unless a chronic condition that puts them at risk. Ulcers.