PodiatryNATALIE PITMAN, PODIATRY BSC (HONS), CARDIFF SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES, CARDIFF

METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

What is Podiatry?■ Podiatrists are health care

professionals who prevent, treat and rehabilitate abnormal conditions of the feet and lower limbs.

■ Podiatry covers the following areas:

■ biomechanics

■ dermatology

■ diabetes

■ gerontology

■ paediatrics

■ rheumatology

■ sports medicine

■ surgery

■ Podiatrists work in multidisciplinary teams within the NHS, especially with High risk patients.

History of Podiatry

■ The word originates from ancient

Greek; Podus (pod) meaning Foot

and Iatros meaning physician.

Chiropody is also ancient Greek;

Chiro meaning hand!

■ Dates back to ancient Egypt –

carvings on Ankhmahor’s tomb

showing physician treating feet.

■ Hippocrates developed tools for

removing corns and callous!

Who Are SOCAP?

■ SOCAP, or the Society of

Chiropodists and Podiatrists

are the leading professional

body and trade union for

Chiropodists and

Podiatrists.

■ Student membership is free,

including the Podiatry Now

journal.

What’s MSK Podiatry?■ MSK podiatry involves diagnosing and treating

problems with the feet and lower limbs that are the result of biomechanical forces impacting on them, or other diseases and conditions such as arthritis, limb length discrepancies, hypermobility syndrome and many others.

■ Diagnosing involves gait analysis as well as taking a full patient history, and other tools such as the foot posture index.

■ Conditions include: plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinopathy, heel spurs and hallux limitus (to name a few).

■ Treatments can be orthoses, strengthening and conditioning or steroid injections.

So, Nat. Why Podiatry?

■ Working in retail was destroying my soul!

■ Did an Access to HE course

■ Didn’t get a place to do Children’s Nursing

■ Wanted something clinical and liked the idea of being an autonomous practitioner

■ Found Podiatry at Cardiff Met!

What’s Podiatry at Cardiff Met Like?

• We get a LOT of hands on experience with patients; we complete 1000 hours of clinical hours. Most of that is in the clinic on Llandaff campus.

What’s a Day in Clinic Like?■ We treat patients from year 1,

term 2 at the Wales Centre

for Podiatric Studies at

Cardiff Met, Llandaff campus.

■ First year is simple nail

cutting, callous debridement,

corn enucleation and foot

care advice.

■ Second year sees patients

with more complex

comorbidities, NHS clinics

(under supervision from NHS

podiatrists) and MSK clinics.

■ Skills labs: involve different

learning styles and a dynamic

learning experience

Some Lovely Feet Pictures….

Some Lovely Feet Pictures….

Some Lovely Feet Pictures….

Some Lovely Feet Pictures….

What’s Placement Like?

• We have a 5 day block observational placement

in the second year.

• In the third year, we are on placement every

Wednesday for 4 blocks of 6 weeks in different

health boards in Wales.

• This has changed for the 2016/2017 cohort as

the programme has changed.

I saw some really eye opening things on my

placement in January. Lots of diabetic foot

wounds…

What Can I Do When I Graduate?

• Work in the NHS with the opportunity to specialize, eg MSK, diabetes, podopaediatrics.

• Work privately, either self employed, employed or on a fee sharing basis.

• Do an masters in a variety of subject areas (Cardiff Met offer Applied Public Health and Advanced MSK studies).

• Work abroad in many countries, including Australia, Canada (certain provinces), Europe and the Middle East.

I would like to work in the NHS, not sure where or if I want to specialize yet though!

What do I LOVE about Podiatry?

■ Making such a different to patient’s quality of life.

■ Speaking to patients and hearing their stories.

■ Being an autonomous practitioner.

■ Being responsible for the entire patient pathway; diagnosis, treatment and

rehabilitation.

■ The opportunity to work as part od a multidisciplinary team.

■ We are often the first to diagnose conditions.

Any Questions?

■ Ask away!

■ Please, go and spread the word of Podiatry to your cohorts!

■ More information:

Cardiff Met: http://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/health/courses/Pages/Podiatry-BSc-

(Hons).aspx

SOCAP: http://www.scpod.org