Fellowships in Podiatric Medicine

Graduating podiatric medicine and surgery residents are increasingly likely to pursue fellowship training. Nonetheless, there has been a lack of formal characterization of fellowship training in the field. The present study aimed to characterize fellowship training through an online survey. Two separate surveys were created, 1 for fellowship directors and 1 for fellows. Fellowship directors and fellows were asked questions pertaining to daily responsibilities, quality of training, work-life balance, the application process, fellow selection, and program selection. A total of 33 fellowship directors and 49 fellows responded to the survey, which was delivered over a 2-year period. Overall, fellows were generally satisfied with their respective programs, though greater satisfaction was associated with increased time allowed for research, as well as greater perceived quality of research training, clinical training, surgical training, and practice management training. When selecting a program, the 3 highest-rated factors were focus of the program, reputation of the fellowship director, and career options, and the 3 most important foot and ankle topics were hindfoot/ankle arthrodesis surgery, arthroscopy, and trauma. Open-ended responses from both fellowship directors and fellows reflected a range of opinions and recommendations, which may be helpful for future fellows or for fellowship program faculty. Notably, both fellowship directors and fellows commonly reported that the application process was in need of improvement, with increased standardization of the application process suggested. The results of the present study reflect baseline data on the topic, and may help facilitate improvement of the fellowship experience.