Those who have studied chemistry or pharmacy or have been associated with hospital work will find themselves possessing valuable assets in the study and in the practice of podiatry.
Choice of Location
There are failures and successes in every field, professional and otherwise. It is, however, axiomatic that a podiatrist who knows his work and applies himself in the proper field will succeed as a breadwinner. The selection of a location is of the greatest importance. Graduates of the various schools, in the main, have located in the larger cities. This is frequently an error because competition with those already engaged in practice who have a standing and a following is thus inevitable and the advance of the younger practitioner is consequently curtailed.
Those graduates who have located in cities of from 25,000 to 100,000 inhabitants have invariably succeeded from the start. The most successful of these have been those who have sought out the practicing physicians and have convinced them that they are not mere “corn cutters,” but scientific practitioners of a legitimate branch of medicine.
The Income From Podiatry Practice
It is current belief that the average podiatrist enjoys a greater income than the average physician. There are no statistics available to confirm or to disprove this conclusion. In order that some idea on this point may be gained, the incomes of some of the members of the first graduating class of one of the podiatry schools of prominence are here given:
| 1st year | 2nd year | 3rd year | 4th year | 5th year | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | 1 | $ | 2,000 | $ | 3,000 | $ | 4,000 | $ | 4,000 | $ | 5,000 | |
| 2 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 2,000 | 2,500 | 3,000 | |||||||
| 3 | 1,300 | 1,800 | 2,500 | 4,000 | 4,800 | |||||||
| 4 | 800 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 4,700 | |||||||
| 5 | 1,200 | 1,800 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 3,400 | |||||||
| [44] | 6 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,700 | 2,300 | 2,800 | ||||||
| [44] | 7 | 800 | 1,000 | 1,400 | 1,800 | 2,800 | ||||||
[44] A woman graduate.
Physicians’ Co-operation
Once the co-operation of the physician is secured, success is assured. Some practitioners in towns of from 15,000 to 35,000 have in three years gained sufficient practise through the aid of medical practitioners to make their incomes from $2,000 to $5,000.