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Hi peeps,

I start my podiatry degree tomorrow (Jan 26th 09), at Salford uni.
I am wondering if anybody mentors students or is up for the challenge?

I would greatly appriciate the help and knowledge you could offer.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome

Steve

Steve:

Podiatry Arena is your one stop source for mentoring during your podiatric medical education. On Podiatry Arena, you have access to some of the most knowledgable individuals in the world in podiatry to learn from.

Here are some suggestions to have your questions answered promptly and by more individuals:

1. Ask your questions in complete sentences with good grammar, punctuation and spelling. Don't use acronyms. Reread your posting before you display it for all to read on Podiatry Arena. Most of us will only ever know your intelligence and personality by how proficient you are with the written word.

2. Give us your name, where you are studying and the year you are in school in your byline, so that we can follow your progress throughout your education.

3. Present your patients with good organization and as much information as possible for us to be able to help you. Presenting Patients for Clinical Advice.

4. Every now and then, let us know a little bit about you and what your personal feelings are regarding your education since we will all then get to know you a little better and will develop more personal incentive to help you in your quest for knowledge.

5. Don't ask questions that you can easily find the answers to by asking your instructors or by studying your coursework and textbooks. Ask us questions only when have actually made an attempt, on your own, to find the answer to the question.

Good luck with the beginning of your podiatry career. My podiatry career started nearly 30 years ago and I'm still learning something new every day.

__________________
Sincerely,

Kevin

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Kevin A. Kirby, DPM
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Applied Biomechanics
California School of Podiatric Medicine at Samuel Merritt College

e-mail: kevinakirby@comcast.net

Private Practice:
107 Scripps Drive, Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95825 USA
My location

Voice: (916) 925-8111 Fax: (916) 925-8136
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Hi Bumblebee,


I really don't think you will need a mentor, especially at such an early stage. Concentrate on getting your feet firmly into the course (excuse the pun), if you then feel you need some help, the lecturers at salford are very accomodating.

Once you have got into the swing of things, why not attend your local SCP branch meeting, next one 18th feb and one of the salford lecturers is speaking.

As Kevin pointed out, this forum can act as mentorship itself.

Good Luck with your studies.

George (honorary lecturer @ Salford)

My first suggestion in the mentoring process is learn your anatomy.

Get hold of different pictures and texts and know what lies beneath the skin. Anatomy should be second nature where you do not have to think about the structure but automatically know the structure of any region.

This is the single most important thing to learn initially and will benefit you during your whole degree and while you are a podiatrist.

Poor understanding of anatomy is what holds back students from a greater appreciation of the function of this very complex structure - the foot and lower limb.

__________________
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Steve Manning
Director - Runner - Podiatrist
Intraining Running Centre
Intraining Running Injury Clinic
33 Park Road Milton Qld 4064 AUSTRALIA
07. 3367 3088
www.intraining.com.au
footman@intraining.com.au

Hi Steve,

I have just started my first year as a practicing podiatrist, and I agree with the other posts "this is your one stop shop".
I have started my own practice straight from Uni (although I am still in the 'business planning' stage) and Podiatry Arena is an enormous help! Even if it just for gathering research, as I don't have anyone else I can get a second opinion from.
I don't think you will need a mentor either this early on, I agree with a previous post ANATOMY ANATOMY ANATOMY- it is the basis for everything and it is up to you to take what the lecturer's give you and take it that one step further. Organise your own workshops with your classmates etc.

I think Podiatry Arena will help you alot more towards the end of your degree, as it breaks things down, it is easily understandable.

Just stick to the basics at the moment.

Good luck! It is well worth the hard work :)

I couldn't agree more with Steve here. I am still learning about anatomy of the foot and lower extremity.....every day I practice. Especially, a good clinician should know their foot and lower extremity surface anatomy.

What does being an expert in surface anatomy mean?It means that you can have someone point to any piece of skin on the foot and/or lower extremity and know exactly what structures lie directly below the skin from superficial to deep. This includes nerves, vessels, tendons, ligaments and bone. When you can do this, you will then be an expert in surface anatomy of the foot and lower extremity. Most podiatrists that I have taught are not experts in surface anatomy and would become better clinicians if they spent more time on learning their anatomy.

__________________
Sincerely,

Kevin

**************************************************
Kevin A. Kirby, DPM
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Applied Biomechanics
California School of Podiatric Medicine at Samuel Merritt College

e-mail: kevinakirby@comcast.net

Private Practice:
107 Scripps Drive, Suite 200
Sacramento, CA 95825 USA
My location

Voice: (916) 925-8111 Fax: (916) 925-8136
**************************************************

Steve McG first year at Salford Uni.

Hi, thanks for the comments and feedback.

I am not looking for the easy root! just want to get the best advice and info I can.
I agree whole hartedly about the importance of surface anatomy and i hope that i can become preficiant in this area to help me become the best practitioner i can.

I will never ask any question i can find the answer to! however, i may ask what people think is the best course of action!

Thanks for now peeps!

Steve

Bumblebee

I do private tuitition and mentoring, that is because I will do anything for money. Acting as an academic tutor is not always met with great joy mostly because students just want the answer and not the experience of the process. In the end it is the latter that matters but it is the perennial problem in education trying to convince usually mediocre students this is the case.

Whist I think the forum is a good resource for some information I would have severe reservations as to its merit as an academic resource. By its very nature it is a bulletin board come talk fest which has many advantages and few if any equals, but the content is not especially academic and in the absence of referees, unlikely to ever be so. Hence I would recommend when students are directed to the Forum for learning purposes this should be accommpanied by debriefing tutorials to untangle arguments and illiminate potential bias. As a single source of reference the forum is just not reliable. I think there is enormous benefit to students and observers (or lurkers) by following the threads and taking up the references cited, but as to the actual content I would think it best to take with a large pinch of salt.


toeslayer

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My location

Hello Bumblebee

Congratulations on starting your degree. I absolutely agree with Kevin's first posting. Please do frame your questions with correct English usage. It can be of great benefit to use 'Word' or a similar word processing package initially and make use of the spellchecker before transferring the post to 'Podiatry Arena.'

It is always useful to visit here and observe the different points of view; however, be aware that you must learn the basics before becoming involved in the more 'esoteric' elements of professional knowledge which the 'great and good' occasionally post.

I am sure that the first step is to approach your University dons for advice on when and where you should obtain formal mentorship. I offer plaudits on your initiative!

Bill Liggins

Hi and welcome!

I think that you mean the easy ROUTE!

Otherwise I couldn't agree more with the other replies!

Cheers and good luck!

Brad

__________________
My location

Perhaps he was talking about Merton.

Then it is a fantastic Pun!!!

__________________
********************************
Steve Manning
Director - Runner - Podiatrist
Intraining Running Centre
Intraining Running Injury Clinic
33 Park Road Milton Qld 4064 AUSTRALIA
07. 3367 3088
www.intraining.com.au
footman@intraining.com.au

Hi, thanks for pointing out my spelling mistakes!

oh the joys of dyslexia........!

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Steve McG

I can forsee you are going to do just fine. You appear to have taken all the recommendations on board. I hope you enjoy Podiatry Arena & I wish you every success in your degree.

To quote introductions once again: All the very best of luck in your studies.

__________________
:)
twirly

Mandy Brooks
Brooks Podiatry
S64 0DE

Suffering a fondness for odd things.

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I am a podiatry student at uwa, am enjoying the podiatry and the other units. Its first year medicine plus podiatry basically.
I am wrestling with med chem thermodynamics. Sadly its taking most of my time.

The lecturers are playing tricks:- for example moving from the anatomical nomenclature of a human and then asking us to reapply the nomenclature of a quadraped, different, while learning the anatomy of a human in one week. A right hook that removes our concentration from focusing on the mastery of one thing at a time - inevitably creating confusion and educational downtime.

Their are countless holes in the transition of one subject to the next.

The addition of a thermodynamics genius without the ability to scaffold down to our level has us all

Help - how much do we need to know and where do we do we draw the lines between knowledge limits versus a genius discourse of calculation.

The dr is a genius is in physics engineering and calculations applauded..... but can he teach.....the quantitative analysis was rumoured to be 30% failure rate in his subject...unfortunately my university does not accept failure.....could he be having a go at med students from his faculty perspective? The rest of the other inter related faculties are supportive.

Has anyone experienced this before and how did you overcome this challenge? This lecturer could lift the bar so high that we all fail. He has had 30 years writing this chemical physics engineering discourse....we are first years.

I am a 2nd yr student in UWIC and thoroughly enjoying the course. The only advice I can offer is much the same as the others, to learn anatomy inside out. Also when you attend a lecture, whatever is discussed in the lecture, read up and make notes on the subject,this helps greatly, especially for exams and clinical exams.

All the best and have fun x

Steve, I'd take a hardcopy of this thread and have a 'quick sqiz' at it in a few years. You've been "in podiatry" less than 2 weeks and you get this response from these contributors. Not bad! all the best in your chosen profession, mark

Eye ewe’s two fined hall manor off miss takes inn righting. Eye ewe’s a chequer sow its hall write tease dyes.

Welcome and good luck.


Be aware, when perusing this forum that we love to debate the biomechanical equivalent of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. There is much here that could confuse an undergraduate and send you spinning off on a tangent. That said there is also a lot of good, basic, down to earth stuff which you should find most helpful. In particular you may find many of the posts, especially Kevin’s, are replete with references! This can be invaluable.

TOP TIP
We all appreciate it greatly when somebody references their comments. We often thank posts like this. If you go to Kevin’s profile and click “find all thanked posts” you may find some fascinating lists of sources.

Kind Regards
Robert

It's all a waste of time. I saw an add in the Daily Mail the other day which clearly states that the SMAE institute is the only body offering a course in foot health certified by a University. Podiatry is clearly not a course in foot health or the advertising standards agency would have pulled them up on this claim.

I agree with Sid, students are generally lazy and what's written here isn't worthy of the bytes. Better to spend your time in the Union drinking in the University experience than sat alone playing with your human interface device, reading this cynical pish.

Cynical, I hasten to add, because someone tore their meniscus (had their meniscus torn more like) while playing rugby at the weekend. Starter for ten Steve (while you're still eligible) :

πού και ποιος είναι ο μηνίσκος;

It's in Greek because until you've learned "the language", it might as well be.

Have fun, stay lucky, don't play rugby.

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Science is the antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition

My location

(my emphasis) Scrubbed from Martin's short list? Just when they needed you!