SAVE THE DATE to attend the fourth annual Des Moines University Foot & Ankle Surgery Symposium!

TOPICS:

• Complicated First Ray
• Controversies in the Hindfoot
• Evidence-Based Medicine
• Decisions in Nerve Surgery
• Sports Medicine
• Trauma 8 to 5

DATE:
April 27 – 28, 2012

LOCATION:
Des Moines University
Student Education Center Auditorium
3300 Grand Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50312

Campus map and directions

REGISTRATION:

• Physicians – $125
• Students – $25

Registration is open. For questions, please email cme@dmu.edu, or call Vanessa at 515-271-1541.

DMU has the perfect way for pre-med students to get a head start…

The DMU Health Professions Advanced Summer Scholars Program (Health P.A.S.S.) gives them a taste of what it’s like to be a student in osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, physician assistant or physical therapy.

The FREE three-week program takes place at the end of July and is open to college sophomores and juniors who want to get a taste of what med school will be like and pad their resumes with a little hands-on experience. Enrollment is limited to 10 students and applicants must have a minimum cumulative college grade point average of 3.0.

APPLY NOW!

I can understand why they ask this question, as many people have an aversion to feet. My first response is to chuckle inwardly and think about the specialties I could never see myself practicing. I certainly don’t say that to put down other specialties, but we each have our specific areas of interest and strength. While I knew in undergrad that I wanted to go into medicine, I had no idea what area of medicine I wanted to pursue. To learn more about my options, I spent time shadowing physicians in several different fields: family practice, otolaryngology, dermatology, urology, ophthalmology, etc. I found things in each specialty that I liked, but nothing seemed to jump out at me.

While I knew I didn’t have to know exactly what I wanted to do going into medical school, I did want to have a better direction. I just couldn’t see myself waking up every day and looking forward to going to work in each of these other specialties. So as my time in undergraduate was coming to a close and applications for school were coming out, I decided that the next doctor I wanted to shadow was a local podiatrist. I had gone to see him before and also knew him outside the doctor-patient relationship. To be honest, before I went to shadow him I didn’t know that podiatry was a separate degree (D.P.M.) rather than a residency post-M.D./D.O. degree.

DMU's podiatry students learn ways to improve patients' quality of life.

After shadowing him, it was like a lightbulb flipped on in my head. Podiatry had many of the things I wanted in a practice. One of the things I found most appealing is that it focuses on improving one’s ability to move about without pain. To be able to help someone walk with less or no pain is an incredible feeling. You get to walk (no pun intended) through the whole process with the patient, from seeing them come in with pain and walk out at a later visit pain-free. That is awesome. Whether this is done by conservative care or surgery, helping a patient to be able to ambulate easier drastically improves their quality of life.

The practice even has a lot of flexibility with how much office time/surgery one does. Honestly, one isn’t going to know which side of practice they will like better until they get first-hand experience in the office and the OR. Personally, I take a lot of comfort knowing that when I graduate residency, I have a choice of how involved I want to be in both. If I decide that surgery isn’t my thing, I don’t have to do a lot of it. Or, on the other hand, if I absolutely love it, I can do more.

Another one of my desires for a medical practice was to find a specialty that had a wide range of patients not only in age but in background. I didn’t want a practice that was all of one group, e.g., pediatrics, ob/gyn, etc. Podiatry does have a focus on diabetic care (which tends to lend itself to the geriatric population), but it also has an array of other groups such as the pediatric population, adults and athletes. You really get it all. So those of you out there who are still contemplating what you may want to do, go check out a local podiatrist and see what it is really about!

Having the D.O. program at DMU also impacts all our other programs in approach, overlap and understanding and that gives our grads an edge. Wouldn’t you want to know your health care practitioner understood other disciplines and had a whole body outlook on your health?

It’s a 2-day event, including meals and only costs $100, or $25 for students. Register here.

In the middle of your third-year, you select where you want to spend your rotations and you need to fill 11 months, leaving you one month for vacation (any month you choose). Fourth-year rotations start in June 2010 and end in May 2011. Most people will also have all of June prior to residency off too so some will choose to do an elective in lieu of vacation.

Rotations exist all over the country, from Washington to Florida, so its a great opportunity to travel back home or to a new place during this year. There’s opportunity to stay or leave Iowa during your last year of podiatry school at DMU. As you can see, students have a lot of control (relatively speaking) of where to go for rotation.

We have what is called a “core” program, meaning the student spends four months under one preceptor/program site and that program chooses how you will spend your four months with them so this will vary with students and programs. (Note: Core requirements are also changing. For the class of 2012, core programs are now 3 months long.)

The remaining seven months include other podiatry rotations and non-podiatry rotations such as internal medicine as part of our well-rounded curriculum. An elective month can be fulfilled with a rotation of your choosing and can benefit dual degree M.P.H. or M.H.A. students wanting to do their internship during this time. Research at DMU is also available if you decide to go this route.

It’s both an overwhelming and exciting time in our career but our faculty are always available for questions and support if you ever need it. Our clinical director, Dr. Kevin Smith, will spend time talking to the class about what is required, what has changed, and what’s expected so you’ll never be out of the loop.

A lot of options, a lot of opportunities!