I recently was shocked to discover that several of my long-term patients still consider me a sub-species of doctor... some sort of educated toenail cutter. I don't know what they think I've been talking to them about for the last few years. Does anyone have any suggestion about an inexpensive pamphlet, brochure, etc that can extol podiatry's praises to the general public. The Podiatry Instritute in Georgia has powerpoint presentations, but they are not viewable prior to purchase, and non-refundable. Despite their stellar reputation as educators, I don't like spending $100 without at least looking at the product.

Larry Aronberg, DPM

Regarding educating the public about podiatry's scope of practice --  Every state has an APMA Public Relations contact person. I am the contact in Nevada. APMA members should contact their state's PR contact to get involved with publicity campaigns that educate the public about podiatrists' scope of practice.  As for educating your patients, I believe the APMA has brochures that explain what a podiatrist treats that you can buy to put in your reception area and give directly to patients.

I think a great way to make the public more aware of what our profession can offer is to go out to different events.  We as podiatrists can get more involved with more health awareness events, especially the diabetic community.  We can participate with marathons, free foot screenings, etc.  With more podiatrist being on hospitals staff, this also gives us another avenue to show patients what services we can offer them.  I think instead of us as podiatrist complaining that the general public still isn't aware of what we can offer, we need to take every avenue to make sure that they do recognize us and our capabilities.

Bruce McClendon, PGY-II

Kingwood Medical Center

Thanks, Bruce...and I agree and  I've tried that; but my question was about available pamphlets, etc. for my office.