Hello again, fellow residents. I hope everything is going well at your respective programs. We’re all firmly ensconced in each of our programs, now, whether first, second, third years or fellows and hopefully learning the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will make us proficient physicians.

Thanks to all of you who participated in your Residency Fellowship Survey. As you see below the vast majority of us (92.3%) feel more fellowships should be developed, while there was a pretty even spread of the types of fellowships we would be interested in pursing, with a slight predominance of podopediatrics (30.8%). Interestingly, though, only 23% of us are planning to apply for a fellowship after graduating from residency. Obviously, we have to realize the small N of this group (26 respondents) and be careful not to generalize too much. With that in mind I’ll make some generalizations and analysis anyway! It’s safe to say that podiatric residents are almost unanimous in our desire to have more fellowships available. I’d attribute this to a desire to have more choices for further education. I think you’d all agree with me when I say our education is comparable to that of our D.O. and M.D. brethren, and fellowship reflects this movement.

CLICK TO SEE LIVE FELLOWSHIP SURVEY RESULTS

What I find interesting is that although almost all of us feel more fellowships should be available, only about one-quarter of us are actually planning to apply for one. I think this may be due to a couple of factors. First, many of us feel our residency is comprehensive enough to teach us the skills necessary to practice medicine, making a fellowship redundant. Second--and I’ll reiterate what I said in a prior Residency Rap—many fellowships are not certified and standardized, making it a bit of a gamble.  Two of your wrote in comments to this effect.  One comments was simply, "...I believe boosting all podiatry residencies to the same level should be a priority before fellowships are addressed within our profession. " Third, by the time we’ve reached the end of residency many of us just want to start working and building our futures. What do you think? Write in with your thoughts.

Additionally, I was surprised to find that almost 31% of us would be interested in a podopediatric fellowship. It’s hard to say what would happen to this number with a larger amount of respondents. However, I’d wager with a larger N this ratio would stay about the same with a slightly higher podopediatric number. My explanation for this is many of us do not get heavy exposure to pediatric foot and ankle disease (with the exception of a few unique programs) because much of it is directed towards the regional pediatric orthopedic hospitals. Many residents would like to gain extra training with this unique population, which a fellowship would provide. As I mentioned previously, I haven’t heard of one yet. Has anyone else? After doing a pediatric orthopedic rotation in Washington D.C and speaking with a number of pediatric orthopedists, I found out there is a national shortage of these experts. Here’s a niche we could fill the same way we’ve done with wound healing and foot and ankle surgery (much less biomechanics!).

That’s my take on our Fellowship Survey. Thanks again to those of you who participated. Write in and give your input on the survey results and their potential significance. Next week, I'll report on the results of the Job Hunt Survey (if you haven't yet taken it, we need your input. It takes less than 2 minutes,  CLICK HERE) to see how you guys are approaching that challenge. Until next week, have rewarding learning experiences and good cases! 

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