Has anyone gone from Podiatry to a Medical career?

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Hi everyone,

Does anyone know anyone that has made the transition from Podiatry to Medicine? Or has anyone made the change themselves?

Thanks

 

I know a couple here in Australia that have done it. But, I doubt you will get any posting here as they probably off on their medical careers and not bothering about posting on Podiatry websites! It would be great if they did.

 

Yep, a very bright spark my wife used to work with realised that she had the potential to make it in medicine so left Podiatry approx 3 years ago, last I heard she was shining in her cohort.

 

Thanks Peter, do you know if she found it a relatively easy transition? I know medicine will be hard but did she find it better having some previous medical knowledge?

 

Paul,

She found it relatively easy, but she had great science "A" Levels, and was extremely motivated.
I wouldn't compare Podiatry degree training anywhere near medicine training ( In the UK before our American friends shout me down!)

 

Judith Barbaro-Brown teaches at Durham University Medical School. I understand that she is the only pod in the U.K. with this distinction.

Cheers

Bill Liggins

 

Hi Bill,

Teaching medicine surely isn't the same as holding a Medicine degree, unless JBB has a Medicine degree, in which case she would be suitably qualified to teach medicine. Thats does not infer that NOT holding a medicine degree does not mean one cannot teach Medicine!

 

Hi Paul

A POD I once worked with in the NHS left the profession to pursue a meical degree.....dont know how he's finding it though.Also,when I was a student POD there was a qualified POD studying medicine and he graduated and apparently enjoys Medicine more than he did POD...whether he found it easy whilst studying, I have not a clue! this is purely my opinion.....I cant imagine taht with the current POD degrees a transition into Medicine will be very easy...it would depend on your years of experience and your scope of practice and what you are exposed to.However having a previous medical background must surely be an advantage

 

Hmmm...

I know a Pod here in Australia who started a Medical degree and passed all 1st year subjects, then for reasons not fully explained went into 'emotional meltdown' for a year - withdrew from medicine and enrolled in a Podiatry degree. His view was that the Australian 1st year medicine was 'similar' in both scope and difficulty with 1st year Podiatry.

I know that at a minimum 1st year Anatomy is similar between medicine and Podiatry - and that Pod's if anything squeezed more into year 1 than med students.

I have multiple medical practitioners as friends (Pathologist, Dermatologist, Anesthetist, Cardiologist, GP, Psychiatrist etc.) and ALL of them put their pants on one leg at a time - just like us! They all defer to my knowledge of Foot pathology - acknowledging that their medical education spent only a few lectures on the foot!

My view: a medical degree is not a 'vast' change from a Podiatry degree (at least in my experience in Australia) more broad in scope, more in-depth (comparing undergrad length of time) but not a quantum change...

 

Peter, Im not in anyway saying medicine and podiatry are similar, medicine will be a lot harder than a UK podiatry degree. However, podiatry is a "medical" degree and things such as writing a medical essay, patient interaction and history taking will all be similar if not the same as podiatry so there will be some advantages.

I completely agree and expect that medicine would be very hard but its nice to know there are a few people out there that have gone from podiatry into it. It's just an idea at the moment but it does seem to be possible.

 

Hi Paul

If you are thinking along those lines Good luck.Sometimes its worth trying....you may decide to stick with POD after all but if you dont try you wont know.I contemplated it a few years ago,but instaed opted to try teh surgical route

 

HI Paul,
I am aware of at least 4 podiatrists who have been accepted into a graduate entry medical program conducted at Notre Dame univeristy here in Western Australia. One is currently working as an intern at my place of employment ,Fremantle Hospital. Her view was that it was very tough ( and she had a child during her training !) but her previous anatomy/bio science ,clinical/experience held her in good stead. Our current First year undergrad pod training program (University of WA) shares common units with Medical and Dental students.

Laurie Foley
Chief Podiatrist

 

i know of two podiatrists from my year at uni who successfully made the transition.

Why do you ask?

Steve

 

In Australia, medicine is mainly a post-graduate degree, so there are people who enroll in podiatry with NO intention of practicing podiatry...just to get into medicine. The country wonders why it doesn't have enough podiatrists (and pathologists, and dental hygienists, and nurses...nursing is a degree here too.) Yeah! That's stealing somebody else's career opportunity. Carole

 

thats a bold statement to make Carole, perhaps it is a retention issue that the podiatry profession needs to address also.
I can think of many fellow pod's who have moved (not stolen) to other professions other then medicine i.e engineering, paramedic, physio, mangement

 

Hi

I think it was Kate Glennon who worked with David Spellman at Neat Feet in Brighton (UK) who went on to Medical Training. I spoke to her before she left and she had to start again from the first year.

Luke Hawkins

 

For goodness' sake, Carole, even I have heard you sprouting this sentiment all over Ourimbah.

How can you possibly say this.. when you yourself have "changed" from dental hygiene to Podiatry. - Have you "stolen someody else's career opportunity"? I think not!

 

Hi

I'm not sure how to edit posts here so I'll post again.

It was Katie not Kate Glennon now Doctor Glennon, She completed an access to medicine course at Sussex Downs College and then went on to the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, graduating 23rd July 2009. She is reported to be working in A&E at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

It appears she completed the access course to get a place. Google is your guide. Hope that helps the OP.

Luke Hawkins

P.S. I believe it can be quite hard to get a place if your much over thirty.

 

I think our poor retention rate has more to do with burn out, the demanding nature of the job and our patients, and with a high percentage of females, time off to have children etc.
As far as I knew anyway, the retention rate was improving??
Does anyone have any actual data on retention rates?

 

Thanks for all the replies. It is interesting to read that the retention of practitioners could be quite low, I have never even thought about it before but may be interesting to find out more.

It all depends on how easy it is, or should I say possible, to get a Pupilage position with a Pod surgeon. I still have 18 months left of my MSc and cant even think about undertaking the passport for another 12 months so plenty of time yet.

Any other success stories would be great to hear.

 

I'm fairly sure if you managed a Podiatry degree, and did well at it, then there's no reason your brain couldn't handle a medicine degree. It would no doubt be hard work though, obviously.

One of the main obstacles would be cost, especially if you already have a life, wife, kids, mortgage. A 5 year degree with no bursary or help toward fees, of which I assume there is none, would come to about £25-30k? I suppose if your spouse has a decent job you might struggle through.

I've often wondered about it myself and like the idea, the reality might be really quite harsh though.

 

It would no doubt be hard and luckily I have a few friends doing medicine at the moment who tell me of their experiences rather than reading stories on the internet etc, which helps a lot.

Luckily I havent got kids, mortage etc at the moment as I am just starting out on "life". I would more than likely apply for the 4 year fast track course which would save money. The fees are around £3k a year but you can get help from the nhs. However, that still leaves living expenses, books, placement costs etc.

 

Any info on the 4yr course Paul?

I was under the impression uni fees had gone up to around the 5k/year mark? Not looked in any detail though.

 

Hi there

Kerry Davies has done this and is flourishing (apparently). My brother is an orthopaedic surgeon and he and I have compared our training on many occasions. It is no harder than Podiatric Medicine there is just more of it. If you have a good brain and got good A levels you will cope, but you need to be determined and put in the work (just like the medical students have to....).

I am studying the MSc Pod Surgery at Brighton at the moment, and guess what.....the MSc is virtually identical to the one my brother did for his Orth training....no surprise - we end up doing very similar things. The Parts C and D are very similar to his surgical training as well.

No doubt the recent decision to allow Pods in the UK to become independent prescribers will help not hinder and this training would be best incorporated into undergraduate training. However, the course will need to be extended to probably 4 years. Begs the question....is it now time to change the training model and make it similar to the USA? With specialisation occurring after graduation?

Podiatrists need to stop thinking they are lesser mortals compared to medics....with POMs etc the gaps are closing! Where will this profession be in 5 years time?

Julian

 

Nice post Julian.

I guess one major difference between orthopaedic and podiatric surgery training would also be that orthopaedics do not have a final (practical) exam like pod surgeons in the UK do. As I'm sure you are aware, there are specific foot and ankle fellowships in orthopaedic surgery lasting a whole year sometimes. This is in contrast to podiatric surgery training where the podiatric surgeon has three years of specific foot surgery training followed by three years as a registrar working exclusively in foot surgery.

Did I miss out on the final decision to make pods independent prescribers? Can you point me to more info on this? I am aware of supplementary prescribing and the steps towards independent prescribing, but I didn't think it was a reality yet?

As far as changing the training model - probably best to start another thread about this.

 

Hi

See this Department of Health document: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_103949.pdf

Recommendations are for physios and podiatrists to become independent prescribers in phase 1.....maybe this is why certain orthopaedic surgeons are trying to nobble podiatric surgery at the moment......

Julian

 

Hello,

Sorry Julian, I am aware of this document, I just wondered if things had moved on at all since the recommendations.

As far as the nobbling comment goes - don't let any side issues like this divert from the real reason - private practice. There are several articles published regarding satisfaction rates between ortho and pod surgery. Pod surgery is and has been established in the UK for some time now both in the NHS and in the private sector. UK pod surgeons have a national audit of outcomes and as I said before the training specifically in foot and ankle surgery is heavily weighted in favour for podiatric surgeons. Patient safety, access to medicines and various other reasons orthopods have given in the past against podiatric surgery are all thinly disguised attacks that are really motivated by short-sighted greed.

Sorry to hijack the thread. I do not mean to include all orthopods in this generalisation. Some do a good job and work well with their podiatric surgeon counterparts. Sadly, a vocal section of their number are less professional and considerably less secure about their abilities. It is very boring to hear the same rubbish being dragged out by some of the individuals that I am sure you are alluding to in your previous post. The sad thing is that it is mainly patients who suffer when elements of a 'profession' seek to (re)create issues such as these to serve their own ends.

Good luck with your training Julian. I hope you enjoy it and the best of luck getting a pupillage if you are not already in one.

 

thanks Bob. I am just moving into theatres now.....still a long way to go! But great

Yes, I agree completely with your previous comments re Orthopods....there are good and bad......just like ourselves.

The cream always rises to the top....we just have to fight our corner!!

 

Hi

We graduated from Podiatry in '07 and my bestest friend went on to do medicine in Brighton. She is really driven, with brains to burn, very proud of her. She's in her 2nd year now and loves it. A lot of the work we'd done in the BSc has really helped, history taking, presentations and podiatric medicine.

Regards

Sarah-Jane

 

I've never thought about going into medicine, but I did consider becoming a train driver a few years ago! When they were about to go on strike, their salary was mentioned on the news, and was significantly higher than mine after 10+ years in the NHS - training (excuse the pun!) is 6 weeks long, and paid.

Why do we do this exactly???

 

For a short time i did consider graduate entry medicine (GEM/P). However Podiatry is wonderful and its always down to what you make it. For those un-motivated / unwilling colleagues of ours, they will remain in lower standing than the medics, all through fault of their own and not the profession. I work as a staff pod in a pod surgery unit, i love it. I have a couple of friends who are SHO's (or F2/ST1's in new money) and my day of clerking patients, providing anaethesia for surgery, performing outpatient clinics, acting as first assistant in theatre, advising nursing staff et al is almost identical to their job (bar independant scripts). I'm on the pod surg MSc in Edinburgh and questioning my medic friends they often stumped in the knowledge we need, but actually taking time to explain why we need it they are often on side and agree. So to those wanting to go for GEP medicine go for it, podiatry should help you significantly however maybe try and get some experience in a pod surg / diabetology / rheumatology clinic to see the more "medical" side of things. Hopefully this may persuade you to use your enthusiasm to push the podiatry profession forward. Bring on the day we go towards an american model of training, although this will take many years, much money, and persuasion.

 

Well said George. Couldnt agree more, pity more people didnt think as we do about podiatry.
Considering going for the MSc pod surgergery at Edinburgh.:drinks

 

Good post George.

Trouble with getting into the area you are working in is the availability of such opportunities. You make your own luck and all that but if you don't live in the vicinity of a surgical unit you have to be prepared to relocate. I personally couldn't do that.

I wold love to to the Podiatric Surgery MSc (they do it in hudds) but I can't see that it'd do me any good as there is no surgical unit in or around Leeds, not that I know of anyway.

 

DGRoberts - seek and ye shall find. There are a few units around Yorkshire, some of very high quality. Speak to the Society and they will point you towards your nearest place. A few years of travelling to a surgical unit will serve you well for your future - hopefully you could go on to develop a surgical unit yourself in Leeds.

I echo your sentiment to George. It's very nice to see his enthusiasm and positive outlook on his chosen profession. I'm not sure that the development of the UK system should follow the US system exactly as I hear it has it's own problems, but I guess nowhere is perfect and pushing for development is always good. Best of luck in all your future surgical careers. :santa:

 

I've searched to find a better place to post but this seems the closest. I've been a Podiatrist approaching 20 years & I'm feeling I might need a change - various frustrations some personal/some professional. Is there any option for a Podiatrist to do a Grad Dip Ed? Or have other Pods gone into other professions? I guess I'm almost feeling a little burnt out by things but that's a long story.

 

Just found this thread.

D G R: I agree with Bob here; there are plenty of surgical units but you have to show your commitment. I had a 100 odd mile trip on my surgical training days. This meant getting up at 6.00am and not getting back until 11.00pm (my tutors were very good and we would always stay late to discuss the cases etc.) I hasten to add that this is no boast; other colleagues doubled the mileage. If you are not prepared to make this sort of commitment, then I suggest that you should look for alternatives to surgical training.

Mark. There are many universities offering PGCertEds in Health Sciences. These invariably lead to Dips and Masters degrees if you wish to put in the time. The best way to research availability is to put the required information into a search engine.

Hope that this is helpful.

All the best

Bill

 

Paul

Ever thought about doing the conversion course to become a GP?
Nottingham/derby Uni's do it and |I think it takes 3 years. Podiatry should get you on the course.

Phil

 

I Hear that brother! You at QMU?

 

I have had several students over the years, some pod, some medical science, pass the grad exams for medicine and successfully become medical doctors. Most regarded it as being a marathon of work rather than intellectually difficult. Rob

 

A First or 2.1 will get you into most Uni's in the UK to do Medicine.
A 2.2 or a Third probably won't.

I don't think many (or any) exemptions will be available for 1st Year Modules in Med School.

Same applies for Law.