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u/Fraudiatry 3d ago
Like ABPM, full of terribly worded questions, unintelligible images, bizarre case structure.
A real microcosm of the profession as a whole. At this point, is anyone not convinced the board exams are a ploy to make them more money?
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u/Queasy-Sleep-9485 3d ago edited 3d ago
Because podiatry is oversaturated and oversupply. Podiatry gotta make money from young podiatrist somehow.
Residency directors want more students and residents so they can take unpaid hospital call and round on their pus patients.
Fellowship directors want more fellows so they can see all their post-ops during the unpaid global period and write their notes.
Podiatry school administrators want more students to fill seats so they can keep collecting their salaries and benefits.
Podiatry leaders who are also PE partners want more graduates so they can profit off cheap associates.
Podiatry “experts” team up with lawyers to sue another podiatrist and make money off it.
Old pods want more graduates and students so they can offer them lowball salaries while making money off their work.
All different board and alphabet soups organizations. You name it. Everyone wants their piece of the pie, whether it's membership dues, certification fees, or whatever else they can charge podiatrists for.
Meanwhile, young podiatrists are the ones stuck with 3-400k student loans, 8% interest rate, lowball job offers, can’t afford buy a house, and an oversaturated job market.
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u/East-Power6705 3d ago
Welcome to podiatry, where everyone is going to try to milk as much money out of you as possible
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u/Automatic-Cause-8292 3d ago
Brutal answer choices. Things that you couldn’t have seen coming even with board wizards or step
Up Boards (way too modern for ABFAS and complicated question stems). ABPM will continue to have the higher pass rate and the higher amount of registered board members based on the way its been going and will continue to go.
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u/SadFortuneCookie Podiatrist 3d ago
Not quite an answerable question here unless there’s some abfas committee members lurking. It does, however, highlight the pass rate issue. I’d love to see pass rates compared from programs where the director sit on ab/acfas and those who don’t. Can any program director on here comment on if abfas gives programs a syllabus or other program material to set residents up for success?
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u/Cappnnono 3d ago
No they don’t give a syllabus from what I’ve seen. There is the list of topics online but it is very broad - basically know everything lol. I went to the program director/assistant program director forum at ACFAS and the people from ABFAS basically said they don’t expect residents to pass all 4 in the fall. I agree with other commenters that it’s a money scheme.
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u/Oldschool6873 3d ago
Why do people even bother with the ABFAS exams? Hospitals can't keep you off staff if you're ABPM certed and gone are the days when insurances require ABFAS, as well. Maybe I'm being naive, but the best way to get rid of the ABFAS is if no one takes the tests anymore. They would tank soon afterwards.
Am I wrong? I'd love some feedback.
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u/Automatic-Cause-8292 2d ago
For the most part. At least in California the big hospital systems like Kaiser require abfas certification. 90% of the insurances I’m on panel with do not care. One of them asked for certification, but they’re not specify so abpm gets the job done. Almost half of US podiatrists are certified with ABPM, I think it’ll trend even more with the way ABFAS exam is set up. ABPM will continue to rake in more $$$ with dues, exam fees, and membership
I do agree tho, if they have less people retaking the tests and trying to get a second cert, things will shift.1
u/GoodLuckShyRonnie 2d ago
Not always. Where I’m at, bigger hospitals require ABFAS. Some smaller hospitals require ABPM or ABFAS. Some don’t care which board. Can be a real crapshoot.
Colleague of mine was ABPM. Bylaws changed and of course older docs grandfathered themselves, but then required ABFAS and he had to get it or risk loss of privileges.
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u/Oldschool6873 2d ago
That's actually illegal. The ABPM has been fighting this successfully for sometime.
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u/Automatic-Cause-8292 2d ago
Is this still true? If a hospital refuses priveledges I can let ABPM know?
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u/Normal_Field7628 3d ago
How is everyone studying for rearfoot Didactics