Where Are We We Now ?

After presenting on diabetic foot surgery at an interdisciplinary wound healing conference last week in Chicago, an audience member can up to me with a question and started by saying "I'm Just a General Surgeon…". At first I thought he was being sarcastic, but he was completely serious and went on to state "I don’t have the training that you all do in Podiatry…but I want to know more about those surgeries you do that can prevent ulcers from coming back."  What he was getting at was how to perform curative and prophylactic diabetic foot offloading procedures such as tendo-achilles lengthenings, metatarsal osteotomies, tendon transfers, and other mechanically corrective procedures.

We are certainly aware that our profession of Podiatry has been growing, maturing, and expanding into new horizons. Standing on the professional and scientific accomplishments of those ahead of us, we are certainly to see continued successes and advancements in the years to come. These opportunities will continue to present themselves and are readily evident in the current practice environment which welcomes our expertise more so than ever. This includes numerous academic medical centers, the NIH, the ADA, and countless other examples that in the past would not have welcomed DPM participation.

It just struck me as funny that we have come so far that an MD with 6 years of post graduate training in abdominal and major organ surgery would open a question to me with "I’m just a General Surgeon." The future seems brighter and brighter…

Please send your thoughts and comments for publication next week in this column. To do so, CLICK HERE.

John Steinberg, DPM
Editor - PRESENT