Podiatric medical school

Podiatric Medical School is the term used to designate the institutions which educate students and train them to be podiatrists, which diagnose and treat conditions affecting the foot, ankle, and related structures of the leg. In the United States, only schools which are accredited by the Council on Podiatric Medical Education (CPME) may earn the status of being a Podiatric Medical School. The Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree is commonly abbreviated D.P.M. degree. The D.P.M. degree is a prerequisite for an individual to be accepted into a CPME accredited residency. The preparatory education of podiatric physicians — very similar to the paths of traditional physicians (MD or DO) — includes four years of undergraduate work, followed by four years in an accredited podiatric medical school, followed by a three- or four-year hospital-based podiatry residency. Optional one- to two-year fellowship in foot and ankle reconstruction, surgical limb salvage, sports medicine, plastic surgery, pediatric foot and ankle surgery, and wound care is also available.^[1] With this amount of expertise and training equivalent to their MD and DO counterparts, a podiatrist is a well qualified physician.

There are eleven podiatric medical schools accredited by the CPME in the United States. Podiatric physicians are licensed in all 50 U.S states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to treat the foot and its related or governing structures by medical, surgical or other means.

State licensing requirements generally include graduation from one of the eleven accredited schools and colleges of podiatric medicine, passage of the National Board exams, postgraduate training and written and oral examinations. National Boards are taken in two parts while in podiatric medical school. Part I covers basic science areas and is generally taken at the conclusion of the second year. Part II has a written exam and Clinical Skills Patient Encounter (CSPE) components of the examination. The CSPE portion assesses proficiency in podiatric clinical tasks and the written examination covers clinical areas such as Medicine; Radiology; Orthopedics, Biomechanics and Sports Medicine; Anesthesia and Surgery; and Community Health, Jurisprudence, and Research.^[2]