Podiatry Flashcards

What is Podiatry?

Podiatry is the branch of medicine which studies and diagnoses, and treats disorders of the foot, ankle and lower extremities.

Students studying a degree in Podiatry will cover an extensive number of subjects including general human anatomy, physiology, general medicine, biochemistry, neurobiology, pathophysiology, genetics and embryology, microbiology, pharmacology, emergency medicine, general surgery, and anesthesia.

Be under no illusions, the path to becoming a qualified podiatrist is a long one. Students will undertake four years of undergraduate study, prior to four years of study at one of nine US podiatric medical colleges, followed by up to four years of residency training. After qualifying graduates become Doctors of Podiatric Medicine with a (DPM) degree.

During the course of their studies, podiatrists will pay special attention to orthopedic surgery, foot and ankle surgery, sports medicine, vascular disease, dermatology, pain management, wound care, vascular surgery, psychiatric and behavioral health, neurology, pediatrics, geriatrics, and physical rehabilitation,

Careers in Podiatry

Podiatrists may work in a variety of setting such as:

Private practice

Research

Hospital Clinician

Teaching

Group practice

Surgeon

The podiatrist is one of the medical practitioners that the public has the most ill-conceived idea about what the profession actually entails. This is partially due to podiatry being a late developer in terms of medicine and also the varying levels of scope the podiatry profession has in many countries.

Chiropodists or podiatrists are often thought of sub-standard health professionals that deal with elderly people who can no longer bend down to cut their overgrown toenails, perhaps an unfortunate but nevertheless relatively minor ingrown toenail, or tend to the verruca-infested feet of small children.  

Certainly, in private practice, podiatrists will undertake some such minor tasks but in clinical settings, podiatrists are at the forefront of diagnosing and treating complex medical issues. In the US, in particular, qualified podiatrists hold a high level of scope and have qualifications and responsibilities on a par with an orthopedic surgeon.

Podiatrists can be the first to spot diseases such as diabetes and vascular disease and from that point may often work closely with these patients on a continual weekly basis for years.

A large amount of podiatric care is the ongoing complex care and management of patients with foot and leg ulcers that fail to heal, due to circulatory disease. Often the patients will lose toes and parts of the feet and legs over time and podiatrists manage wound care, often holistically as part of a team, in these patients. Podiatrists also deal with spotting the immediate need for hospital admissions, alerting emergency vascular surgeons, and performing amputations as part of critical care teams.

This is a challenging area of medicine but there is certainly lots of benefit to easing discomfort and pain and promoting healing for these patients. As you can imagine, prospects for many patients are poor, and many are housebound, immobile, and manage high levels of pain. A great podiatrist delivers excellent clinical care as well as an all-important psychological boost for patients.

Sadly, with the rise of diabetes currently in the US, there’s an increasing demand for podiatrists. Due in part to the high level of training required, podiatry is one of the highest paid professions in America, rating as the around the 15th highest paid profession in recent Forbes lists.

If you think you have what it takes to become a podiatrist then take a little time to visit  The American Association of Colleges of Podiatric Medicine and American Podiatric Medical Association. You can also check out this video which features podiatrists describing their profession.

Learning Podiatry

Podiatry students will become Doctors of Podiatric Medicine, the path whilst well-defined, is lengthy and covers a vast area of core science and medicine.

Further areas that podiatry students will cover include:

Anatomy, sociology and patient psychology, rheumatology, diabetes, vascular medicine, mental health, neuroscience & neurology, general medicine, general pathology, local and general anaesthesia, matricectomy, cryotherapy.

Podiatry students are tasked with continually learning, building on more complex subject matter. Brainscape has proven to be a significant boost for medical students who face some of the highest learning challenges imaginable in terms of vast quantities of theoretical and academic knowledge. Brainscape offers podiatry students an unrivalled tool in ongoing clinical learning and achieving excellence in professional practice

Podiatry in Brainscape

There are thousands of Brainscape flashcards prepared by top podiatry professors and students available to use, for free. Take a little time to browse through the flashcards and you’ll see everything from Local Anesthetic, and Oedema, to Charcot Foot, and Plantar Fasciitis, perfect for whichever podiatry class you are taking.

Maybe you’ve decided that podiatry is for you and you need great SAT scores. We’ve partnered with Next Step Test Preparation to provide study guides for AP Maths, AP Biology and AP Chemistry that will give you the edge.

Maybe you prefer to make your own note cards? Brainscape is the perfect partner for authoring your own ready to use personal learning library.

Learn faster with Brainscape

The development of Brainscape’s unique learning system known as Confidence-Based Repetition or CBR is exciting news for learners.

CBR allows learners to cover content faster, up to twice as fast in fact, meaning that students can allocate their study time more effectively. Studying medicine pushes many students to their limitations, at least in terms of time, which is where Brainscape can prove invaluable.

The Brainscape system incorporates three learning methods into the CBR system, Active Recall, Metacognition, and Spaced Repetition. Whilst you will see the use of some of these learning methods in other computer-aided learning tools, Brainscape is unique in its use of all three.

Brainscape uses active recall which is a vital learning method for medical students. In Brainscape you will be presented with the task of retrieving information rather than recognizing information. When the neurons retrieve information, they are strengthened which means you will be able to recall the information more easily later. This is of paramount importance for medical students that need to continually build on previous knowledge.

The Brainscape flashcards also use the spaced repetition learning method which has proven to be an excellent method of retaining information. Separating Brainscape from the competition, though, is the use of metacognition in the learning process.

After reviewing each card, you’ll be asked to rate your understanding of the subject matter from 1-5. If you don’t know the subject matter well, you might record a rating of “1”, with that information the algorithm can now effectively shuffle the deck so that flashcard is repeated frequently. Simply taking a few seconds to reposition the cards has remarkable results in terms of efficient learning.

You can’t afford to waste time on repeating information you know well, you just need to recap that infrequently, you need to concentrate on your weaker areas, effectively. Brainscape is the smart learning tool, medical students shouldn't be without.

How to get started

Ready to get started making Brainscape your personal learning tool?

You can choose to make your own flashcards or dig into our already prepared Podiatry cards. Browse through and choose a deck from below such as Regional Foot Pain, Rheumatology, Fractures, or Osteomyelitis, and start learning the smart way.

Try out our software and make your own flashcard by clicking “make flashcards” at the top of the page. Keep your note cards private, share with classmates, the whole class or the Brainscape community - the choice is yours!

Brainscape is passionate about giving students the best educational tools available on the market to achieve their professional goals. The Brainscape team wishes you all the best in your Podiatry studies and career.