191869 An international podiatric curriculum: 3- tier model

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 12:50 PM

Cornelius Michael Donohue, DPM , Comprehensive Wound Healing Center, Roxborough Memorial Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
David Armstrong, DPM, PhD , Department of Surgery, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, AZ
Foot specialists of any type exist in fewer than two dozen of the more than 200 nations on earth. Our colleagues in many different specialties remind us that there needs to be a universal, standardized medical and surgical sub-specialty called podiatry outside of the United States and, at the same time, one that is integrated and compatible with the U.S. standard of training and credentialing for specialists in podiatric medicine and surgery. The worldwide epidemic of diabetes alone presents a formidable challenge to provide preventive and therapeutic podiatric specialty care for the millions of diabetics in the developed and developing world at risk for limb and life-threatening diabetic wounds and infections. Obviously, besides diabetes, there are many other serious foot and ankle diseases, in the developed and developing world, that require the specialty knowledge and surgical skills of comprehensively trained foot and ankle specialists. In non-diabetics, these disorders include trauma, arthritis, infection, neoplasia, vascular disease, congenital and neuromuscular disease, and primary ulcerative disease. The model proposed in this paper may provide the leverage and flexibility necessary to build the required global population of trained podiatric medical and surgical specialists. We have developed outlines for three different tiers of foot specialists and their corresponding training requirements, both academic and clinical, that we think might facilitate advancement towards this common goal of properly trained podiatric specialists strategically available around the world.

Learning Objectives:
Define the 3 tiers of international podiatric medical and surgical training, including credentials of the participants as well the academic and clinical curriculum required for each tier of caregivers.

Keywords: Chronic Diseases, Training

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: 1. DPM degree from the Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine 2. Founder, World Walk Foundation (www.worldwalkfoundation.org)
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes

Name of Organization Clinical/Research Area Type of relationship
Diversified Clinical Services Wound healing Advisory Committee/Board, Independent Contractor (contracted research and clinical trials) and Speaker's bureau and teaching engagements

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.