So, let’s take a short look at the future. What will podiatry be like in, say, 30 years? Let’s imagine….
In a general sense I see the scope of podiatry expanding even further. Recent trends have shown an increasingly proximal application of technologies with respect to the foot and ankle. We have many podiatrists now, for example, applying external fixators to the leg with increasing sophistication to treat foot and ankle pathology, not to mention endoscopic calf muscle lengthening. Similarly, diabetic wound care has demanded an ever increasing knowledge of general medicine. Yes, there’s a person attached to that foot. This trend will only increase as the number of diabetics increases and our residency education continues to expand.
Evolution of Surgery
The surgical areas of our profession will demonstrate visible changes as time goes by; in 30 years lower extremity surgery will look far different than it does today. I can see fixation technologies like plates and screws eventually replaced with super-strong osteoconductive and inductive “bone glues” which will lead to ever smaller incisions and increasingly minimally invasive procedures. The current success of endoscopic and arthroscopic procedures coupled with new bone healing technologies points to the genesis of minimally-invasive, rapidly-healing podiatric surgery.
Patients will become increasingly agreeable to surgery as recovery times shorten and immediate weight-bearing in regular footwear is born. Gone will be the days of casts and walking boots for elective surgery. Our ankle fracture patients will go immediately to the office OR for open reduction and internal “gluing” (ORIG). Perhaps open procedures will disappear entirely as the first percutaneus Lapidus is born. “Pedal remodeling” will enter our patient discussions as diabetic feet are surgically “adjusted” to decrease plantar pressures and neuropathic wounds are eliminated before they occur.
The Podiatry Office of the Future
The podiatry office will, in my opinion, remain, while continuing to expand its services. As imaging technologies continue to improve and become cost effective, we’ll see the creation of the in-office podiatric lab, including in-office weight-bearing MRI, which will eventually displace x-ray as the primary imaging method.
Patients will walk into a boutique style office, well tailored with “ergonomically designed color systems” to compliment the with automatic autoclaving technology and surgical instrument drawers included. Waiting rooms will become passé as online podiatric “reservations” replace appointments scheduled through the fully integrated EMR program. This same program will coordinate all office components and schedules to create a highly efficient office flow of the completely paperless office – all integrated and fully controlled by the physician’s tablet PC, fondly referred to as the POD - Podiatric Office Dictator – which also does transcriptions.
As for how all of these changes will be paid for – the future of healthcare delivery – I have no idea. Universal healthcare? Fully privatized healthcare? Some mixture of these or something completely novel I can’t even try to guess. Either way, considering our future is a thought experiment worth puzzling over. What do you think the podiatric future will look like? Write in with your impressions.
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***The Changing Face of Podiatry*** |
Absolutely, I am in practice for 10 years and recognize that just being a surgeon is part of your profession. There is lot to learn on the primary care side that will make you a good surgeon and keep the practice running.
—Syed Ghani
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Great article about "Green Podiatry." Don't forget that Podiatrists are actually leaders of the pack when it comes to "green debridement" . . . using medicinal maggots for wound care --- the only completely biodegradable, all natural, non-energy requiring wound care medical device!
Thank you for a good read!
—Ron Sherman, DPM
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Stop already. This climate change is not agreed upon by most scientists. It is Cyclical. If anyone would bother to read a history book it is repeatedly apparent. I believe in conservation, protecting our clean water and eliminating fossil fuels and dependence on foreign oil. However this propaganda has to stop!
Thanks.
— Dr. Canterbury
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With due respect to Dr Canterbury, in my editorial on Green Podiatry, I didn’t actually state my own opinion about global warming; rather I stated that the controversy exists as an introduction to a more broad topic. Having said that, I do believe global climate change is, in fact, not cyclical and is a significant problem. Since I’m not an expert on climate or the environment, I’ll let the experts speak for me.
The following is an abstract from an article on global climate change from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The full paper is available by clicking on the link.
Global surface temperature has increased ≈0.2°C per decade in the past 30 years, similar to the warming rate predicted in the 1980s in initial global climate model simulations with transient greenhouse gas changes. Warming is larger in the Western Equatorial Pacific than in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific over the past century, and we suggest that the increased West–East temperature gradient may have increased the likelihood of strong El Niños, such as those of 1983 and 1998. Comparison of measured sea surface temperatures in the Western Pacific with paleoclimate data suggests that this critical ocean region, and probably the planet as a whole, is approximately as warm now as at the Holocene maximum and within ≈1°C of the maximum temperature of the past million years. We conclude that global warming of more than ≈1°C, relative to 2000, will constitute “dangerous” climate change as judged from likely effects on sea level and extermination of species. Following this link for more. |
Additionally, I’m including the executive summary on the issue by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). The full IPCC Technical Paper VI is available at the following link: www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tp-climate-change-water.htm
Come up with your own conclusions on climate change. There’s plenty of propaganda on both sides of the issue, so do your own research and listen neither to me nor Dr Canterbury.
Best wishes this holiday season!
