HI Dr. Zapf, this is the girl that wanted to interview you!
I have the questions ready:
1.) What is the main reason you decided to be a
podiatrist?
I wanted a medical job that was intimately involved with
people, such as a doctor, and one that involved knowing many areas of science
and medicine. To know feet properly you need to know muscles, bones,
circulation, nerves and dermatology. You need a good grounding in biochemistry
to understand pharmacology and physiology. You need to know many disease states
like arthritis and diabetes and how they show up in the feet and legs. Finally I
wanted a job that rewarded the worker, financially and otherwise, directly
according to how hard and how successful the efforts. Previously I worked in a
civil service position and neither of these features were present.
2.) How do you feel every morning when you wake up
for work and you think about your work that you'll be doing the rest of the day?
I look forward to every day, although there are some days
that I wish I could get another hour of sleep – but that is what Saturdays are
for. My patients want to see me, are overwhelmingly happy with the care they
receive and are grateful for my efforts. I get rewarded verbally from my
patients every hour I work. Who could want more than that?
3.) What type of atmosphere do you work in?
I work in a small office setting with three to four
employees helping me. My practice is in a small suburban town and my patient
load consists of kids, their parents and their grandparents. It is truly a
family practice and I see all kinds of problems. I rarely see the dame thing
more than twice in any one day (except heel pain – I see a lot of patients
with heel pain)
4.) How long did you go to school to become a podiatrist?
You need a 4-year bachelor’s degree from a college to get
to podiatry school. Podiatry school is 4 years long and it is followed by a
residency in a hospital for one, two or three years. I did my residency 14 years
ago and it was 1 year long. In my one year I worked on more than 350-foot
surgery cases. In each case a senior doctor (the surgeon) would teach me, the
resident, who to do foot surgery.
5.) *optional* estimate yearly income?
Podiatrists earn about the same amount of money as family
practitioners that, on the average, is about $90,000 to $110,000. Some make more
and some less. Those who work in the big cities can make a lot more but it
usually takes a lot longer to “get there.”
6.) How do you feel about working with feet?
When a student like you, Kristi, ask me this question I
suspect that they think that feet are less than glamorous. I respond by asking
them what medical profession deals only in glamorous parts of the body. They are
stumped. Some boys, thinking of models, say plastic surgery. Only the rare
plastic surgeon, however, sees this type of patient. Most see cosmetic patients,
of course, but they also see post-cancer surgery reconstruction, post-auto
accident reconstruction and zillions of 70-somethings that want to look
50-something. These are worthy patients and are grateful for everything the
plastic surgeon does, but they are not glamorous in the customary sense. Some
girls will suggest a dermatologist as someone who does not have to deal with
less than glamorous patients, thinking, of course, of their dermatologist who
treats their acne. But dermatologists see some of the most unattractive things
in the world – just look at a dermatology textbook.
The more you look at medicine the more you realize that no
doctor has a lock on glamorous patients. Pediatricians see kids at their worse
and sometimes have to tell mothers and fathers that their kids have a severe
disease. Dentists have patients that often fear just going to their office. When
you think of it podiatrists have it pretty good. We have the advantage of seeing
a complete range of patients (not just one gender or just one age group). Out
patients most always have a straightforward non-life threatening problem with a
relatively straightforward solution. We nearly never have to tell someone they
have a life threatening disease or that they will die.
Think of it this way: If your doctor listened to your heard
and said you needed to see the cardiologist, it cannot be for anything good. The
best you can hope for is that there was really nothing wrong. – just a weird
heart sound. Same with the neurologist or gastroenterologist. When the very same
doctor tells you to see the foot doctor, how bad can it be? You come to my
office with a good attitude and we have a great time
7.) How long have you been a podiatrist?
I started working as a podiatrist the day I was licensed on
July 1, 1985. I started my own practice 9 months later on March 1, 1986.
8.) When was it that you realized that you wanted
to be a podiatrist?
I hope that you realize that few people have just one thing
they ever wanted to be or just one thing that they could be. I can see me in any
of hundreds of jobs doing hundreds of things. Almost every patient I interview I
say, “I could do that”. I find all these jobs interesting. What seems to
happen is that your inclination for a variety of jobs meshes with the
opportunity to pursue one of them. My desire to pursue medicine and science
meshed with an opportunity to go to into a profession that allowed me to be home
every night with very little weekend call and very few night calls. Couldn’t
turn it down although there are hundreds of things that I could have done and
enjoyed.
9) Were your family and friends supportive of your
career choice?
Once they understood what podiatry was and the
opportunities it presented, everyone loved the idea.
10) If you could have it over again would you choose the
same career?
Every time and place presents different opportunities. Of
course if I were there again, I would have chosen the same path. If you mean if
I was 29 years old now and had to choose a profession, would I choose podiatry?
Probably. But I might get a health related MBA and work for the Red Cross of an
International Relief Agency. Maybe medical management. It honestly depends on
the choices available to me.
I realize you have so much other important things to do, but if you could
The Doctor Has A Question: who is Kristi?
Her answer: Thanks for all your help. I loved the way
you set up the website for my answers. It was perfect! Well, what
can i tell you about Kristi...I am a senior and will be attending UNF next fall.
I will be playing on their tennis team (which is awesome). The coach is
giving me some scholarship money and I'm going to receive half academic
scholarship. I have played tennis for about 6 years. It's probably
the main part of my life. I have done every other sport, but this is the
only one I stuck with because I can't quite master it. Not that I ever
will, but I always set goals and I have not reached them in tennis yet.
That's what intrigues me about it. The challenge. I hate my feet.
Yet, I love feet (just not mine). It doesn't bother me to work with them
either. I want to be a doctor and this "intrigues" me. I'm
not saying I'll do it, but it's my priority for career
goals. That's a big chunk of my life to know. Thanks for taking the
time to care (I'm assuming you do because you asked, but I could be wrong) and
to read this. Also, for helping me with the interview.
Sincerely, Kristi
The Doc's final question:
What and where is UNF?
