Podiatric Medicine

Overview

Podiatric medicine programs include topics such as:

• Basic medical sciences
• Anatomy and structure of the foot and ankle
• Foot and ankle disorders and injuries
• Functional orthopedics
• Emergency medicine and traumatology
• Practice management
• Professional standards and ethics

Schools

Very few universities and specialized schools offer graduate degrees in podiatric medicine. Students earn a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree (DPM). This usually requires four years of full-time study beyond the bachelor's degree.

Residency

After graduating from medical school, students spend between one to three years in a residency. This is paid, on-the-job training where they get more in-depth exposure and experience working in surgery, internal medicine, and radiology.

See schools that offer this program.

Graduate Admissions

Admission to podiatric medical schools is competitive. You need a bachelor's degree, good grades, and good test scores on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). You also need letters of recommendation. Schools normally require that at least some of these letters be from:

• Pre-Health Professions Committee at your college
• College science faculty

Also, some schools require that you observe or shadow a podiatric doctor, and then get a recommendation letter from him or her. This shows that you are familiar with the work of podiatric medicine before applying.

All schools require a personal interview as well.

You also need to take the following college-level courses before applying:

• Calculus
• General Biology
• General Chemistry
• Organic Chemistry
• Physics

The number of credit hours you need for each course varies per school.

Typical Course Work

Graduate Program Courses

Course work in podiatric medical school is usually divided into two parts: the basic clinical sciences and clinical clerkship rotations. You typically take the clinical sciences courses in the first and second years of the program. These courses usually include some combination of the following:

• Anatomy and Physiology
• Bacteriology
• Biomechanics
• Cell Biology and Histology
• Emergency Medicine
• General Surgery
• Human Life Cycle
• Infectious Diseases
• Internal Medicine
• Introduction to Podiatric Medicine
• Lower Extremity Anatomy
• Lower Limb Prosthetics and Orthotics
• Medical Ethics and Jurisprudence
• Osteology of the Lower Extremity
• Pathology
• Peripheral Vascular Diseases
• Pharmacology
• Physical Assessment
• Podiatric Radiology and Medical Imaging
• Podiatric Surgery
• Podopediatrics

You participate in clinical clerkships in the third and fourth years of medical school. These are hands-on opportunities to learn how to apply the information you acquired in the previous years to real-life clinical settings. An experienced podiatrist supervises you.

Each clerkship lasts several weeks - long enough to experience a fair-sized range of podiatric medical principles and problems, and short enough to participate in different areas as well. Some of these possible areas in which you might clerk include:

• Diabetes Foot Clinic
• Emergency Medicine and Radiology
• Orthopedics
• Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
• Primary Care, Geriatrics, and Podiatric Medicine

Things to Know

You need to be licensed before you can practice. Licensure is granted on a state-to-state basis, and requirements vary.

In order to be licensed, most states require passing the National Board Exams. The exam consists of two parts, one taken after the second year of podiatry school and the other, near the end of the fourth year.

Some states require completion of a residency program in order to be licensed.

Schools

No information available.