A faculty workshop is reported that assessed in great detail the present state of podiatric medicine, its educational system, and its role in health care. Alternative methods to plan, implement, and evaluate changes in the clinical curriculum were explored carefully. Four major questions were considered: (1) What is the profession of podiatric medicine? (2) What does society demand and need from the profession? (3) Toward what goals should podiatric medicine strive? and (4) How can podiatric medicine meet society's and its own expectations? Recommendations set forth the need to identify rather precisely the role of the profession in order to develop an appropriate clinical curriculum. Recognition was given to the importance of including in any curriculum adequate attention to methods that may be used to assess the clinical competence of graduates of the colleges of podiatric medicine. The proceedings of the workshop and an evaluation of the faculty workshop by the participants are given. Included in this report are 15 papers that were formally presented at the workshop on such topics as the evolving health care system, clinical curriculum, primary care, competency based education, and teaching problem-solving. (Author/PJM)