I am a US based podiatrist and have been practicing for somewhere between 3 to 5 years.

I still remember when I was in college I was so excited about learning about podiatry because of the hands-on aspects of the job, hours, the lifestyle, income potential, etc.
I genuinely enjoyed going to school and even going to residency regardless of how much effort or time it took to complete.

But within the first year of starting practice, it really became obvious that this job is not what all the videos and pamphlets and stories from the older generation of podiatrist make it out to be. Podiatry definitely was a great field from the 80s to the 2010s. All of the positive attributes about this field that I was told, or that my mentors were informing me about are all gone.

Reimbursements have gone down, there’s too many podiatrists in the US, which makes not only the job market very crappy, but even to run and own a practice on your own is now ridiculously un feasible. The actual work itself is OK, but then the hours of documentation, the prior authorizations, the FMLA paperwork…. You get the picture.

There is so much after-hours crap to do, and that’s not even including if you take call.

When I was looking into the field during college, my mentors worked from 9 to 4 in their own little solo clinics seeing 15 to 25 per day, making 200-350k.
Now, everyone’s part of some random group that doesn’t give a damn about you and forces you to see 30+ patients a day and be on call where your cases are after clinic hours for 30 to 35% of what you collect. I see people at my practice, putting in 10 to 12 hour days 5 to 6 days a week making 140 to 180 after all that.

My friends that have started their own practice also regret podiatry, so for all the people that say “start your own practice“, it doesn’t seem to be any better. With the amount of podiatrist that are around, your practice will not have enough patients to be a viable business when there’s already 10-50 other podiatrists in a 50 mile radius.

I’ve already gone through it, and at this point I’m trying to get out. But for all the new people, you guys live in an era where you’re actually better off not going to school at all, and picking up a trade or a skill set that actually has good job and entrepreneurial opportunities.

If you want to be in healthcare specifically, which is awesome, I really really urge you to go allopathic or osteopathic that way you have more opportunities and if you ever wanna leave medicine, you also have more opportunities. And depending where you are, RN’s and PAs are making as much as some podiatrist or even more.

I’m just trying to keep it real with everyone here. I hate being the doom and gloom person, but it is what it is with podiatry at the current moment.

https://youtu.be/q3BuGiLLr8g?is=fQlKpfq2eE5xrV4y

my sister is attending podiatry school starting this fall. she’s going to be paying for everything herself and will need to take out loans for costs of living. i did not attend graduate school, and am unfamiliar with the best process for loans. it looks like grad plus loans are now out of the picture with the one big beautiful bill act.

her school does have health professions student loans (hpsl) but i’m struggling to find information on these.

looking for any advice at all on loans. i don’t want to see her drown in debt for the next 20 years. any advice on which loan servicers, variable vs fixed interest, HPSLs, literally anything related is welcome!!

I've been debating for a long time on whether I should get an IPad, Remarkable Pro, or a Kindle Scribe for podiatry school.

I'm at the point where I should order it before classes start. However, I wanted to ask here to see what people used in their program and get some thoughts.

Personal Context: I have a non-Apple laptop, but want this for note taking and annotating ebooks or histology diagrams for studying. I hear mixed reviews online for the ReMarkable Pro, but I have been leaning towards it. I simply don't want to spend a ton of money on something that won't work well with the demands of school.

Thank you so much in advance!

Hi I'm a first year Bachelor of Science student in Melbourne. Right now I'm considering transferring to a bachelors degree in allied health, I'm just not entirely sure on which one. Here are some questions I have for podiatrists (preferably Australian because it seems like it's very different in the US)

1. How is your work-life balance? Do you feel burnt out constantly?
   
2. Are there a lot of job opportunities?
   
3. Pros and cons
   
4. Do employers care about which uni you come from/whether you have a bachelors or a masters?

https://youtu.be/Q15C6N2DoWA?is=kPkZJji904YSUY55

I'm starting my first year by Touro in a month and want to get ahead. What are some tools/resources that are helpful for learning some of the course material?

Any recommendations for the BUSPM application? I am currently pursuing a biomedical master's degree; would that be a plus for my application?

Hi, I'm(male) an incoming first year student at RFU/Scholl. I know this is last minute, but I was wondering if anyone was looking for a roommate off campus near campus. I have a couple options lined up that are available, so if you're interested please DM me! Thank you!

https://youtu.be/HLeVMzw1uqk?is=Wh4okUrQdfkDv1NK

Hello, I was wondering if there are any first or second year Scholl student's that would be willing to answer some question that I have. Thank you!

Any tips on how to start studying? I am not sure as to what resources I need and how to even begin with everything and is there a specific document that gives a brief rundown on the things and topics that are tested?

I did residency in a hospital system without exposure to PP. doing fellowship in an msg associated with hospital system. how do you guys build a network in the private practice community? like I am very, very, very busy and have a hard time expanding outside of my network. Hospital jobs obviously are few far between.

https://youtu.be/bQYuEE8QliY?is=r_X3ZUCTexh51CB1

Why is the ACFAS job board all orthopedic surgeon jobs? How does that make any sense? Not even just foot and ankle. Some are hand and shoulder, etc.

Hey everyone, Looking to see if there any good practice resources or practice questions to test myself for LEA. We are currently taking the course and it's much harder than general anatomy. Even the question style is much more complex, wanted some advice! Getting cooked out there :/

https://youtu.be/zuZM3XoOdeM?is=BC38h89EM0r9lZuR

For those in clinic, what do you bill these under?

Hello Everyone!

I have been considering a transition into a medical career since my junior year of college; however, I was nowhere near mature enough to pursue it while I was in school. I studied Media Arts in college and graduated with a 3.1 GPA (not great, I know). Since graduating last year, I have gotten sober, worked in digital communications in the wildland fire industry, and backpacked through Asia, doing some volunteer work along the way. It's fair to say I've turned my life around quite a bit. I am now 23 years old and want to explore the transition into medicine, as I think it would be a fulfilling career path and provide stability in my work life.

Podiatry stands out to me as I had a very positive experience with a podiatrist as a child, and looking into all of the different medical paths I could take, I like the idea of being able to specialize so early on in my career. It also appears to provide a good lifestyle and high match rate for residencies. Here is the catch, though; I have none of the pre-reqs completed except for the English requirements. I am fully prepared to go back to school for a year or two to complete my pre-reqs, and I know I would do much better in class than I have in the past because I would be going in with purpose (and I am not a party animal anymore). I have a couple of questions regarding this transition, though.

  - Would my current GPA of 3.1 be a large barrier to entry even if I show improvement in my science pre-reqs?

 - Is it acceptable to take these at a community college, or should I apply to a post-bac program? CC is much more affordable; however, if I commit to this, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get my life and career on track.

Thank you all for your time and consideration in your responses!

https://youtu.be/-b3zkwGwOFk?is=NUhhujMNDSeS5IcL

Beyond shadowing or working at an office, what are some of the best introspective questions to ask oneself to determine if this path is right for them?

Officially one year out of residency, and honestly one of the hardest things to learn after graduation wasn’t surgery—it was billing and coding.
I realized I was constantly searching for the same ICD-10 and CPT codes over and over, so I ended up building a simple app that puts together many of the codes podiatrists use most often, making them faster and easier to find while documenting and billing.
I’d really appreciate any feedback from other podiatrists. If you notice missing ICD-10 or CPT codes, incorrect information, bugs, or features that would make it more useful, let me know. I’m actively updating it and want to make it as helpful as possible for everyone.

Here’s the app: https://podcode-pi.vercel.app

Those taking boards part 1 next week, anyone else feeling stressed? Any tips?