Tag: podiatry
How much Pseudoscience is their in Podiatry?
PodChatLive is a once a week live show for the regular learning of Podiatrists which uses the Facebook livestream to reach their audience. Even though it really is largely viewed by podiatrists, lots of other health professionals as well see it. The livestream is hosted by Craig Payne coming from Australia as well as Ian Griffiths coming from the United Kingdom. The livestream is streamed live on Facebook then is later on modified and submitted to YouTube. Every live episode features a different guest or group of guests to discuss a unique theme each time. Inquiries have been answered during the stream by the hosts and experts through the livestream episode on Facebook. On top of that, there is a PodCast version of each live on iTunes as well as Spotify along with the other common podcast sources. They have gained a large following which keeps increasing. PodChatLive can be regarded as a good way in which podiatry practitioners can get free continuing education points.
One thing which may come through in every show stands out as the thinking in science and the challenging of those people who expose pseudoscience or junk science beliefs. PodChatLive even had one show devoted to the complete theme of bad science in podiatry. In that live the guest that they had on that week was the podiatrist, Robert Issacs in which they reviewed and discussed exactly why critical thinking was really critical in clinical practice and just how our biases impact logical thinking. Additionally, they reviewed exactly why it is so vital that you have the ability and want to query and review everything we go through and why this really is so fundamental to helping the entire profession of Podiatry. They also described the most popular logical fallacies and faults that occur in that thinking. They also presented the sorts of behaviours observed from some kinds of people in the profession when they're questioned or challenged and just how they respond to those concerns and challenges when caught out.
Why is a vascular assessment of the feet so important?
One of the most valuable jobs which a podiatrist takes on will be to appraise the vascular or blood flow status to the feet and lower limb to find out if people are vulnerable or not for inadequate healing a result of the supply of blood. If a person was at high risk for issues because of that, then measures really need to be undertaken to reduce that risk and protect the feet from damage, particularly if they also have diabetes mellitus. The weekly talk show for Podiatry practitioners, PodChatLive devoted a complete stream to that issue. PodChatLive is a free continuing education stream which goes live on Facebook. The expected market is podiatry practitioners employed in clinical practice, however the real market extend to plenty of other health care professionals too. Throughout the livestream there is a lot of discussion and feedback on Facebook. Later on the edited video version is added to YouTube and the podcast version is put onto the usual sites like Spotify and also iTunes.
In the show on vascular complications and examination of the feet the hosts chatted with Peta Tehan, a podiatrist, and an academic at the University of Newcastle, Australia and with Martin Fox who is also a podiatrist and works in a CCG-commissioned, community-based National Health Service service in Manchester where he offers early identification, analysis and ideal clinical management of people with diagnosed peripheral vascular disease. Through the episode there were several real and helpful vascular gems from Martin and Peta. They brought up what a vascular evaluation may need to look like in clinical practice, the importance of doppler use for a vascular examination (and prevalent mistakes made), we listened to some doppler waveforms live (and recognize how counting on our ears alone is probably not perfect), and recognized the need for great history taking and screening in people who have identified risk factors, particularly considering that 50% of people with peripheral arterial disorders have no symptoms.
What does a podiatrist do?
Podiatry is that health occupation which is concerned with the management of disorders of the feet and related problems. The foot is such a complicated body part with so many bones, muscles, ligaments which all get subjected to all the stresses from running and walking. In addition to that, the foot also gets forced into the dark and damp climate of the shoe that it needs a whole profession dedicated to the problems with it. The issues can range from trivial skin disorders such as claw toes to musculoskeletal problems such as plantar fasciitis to broken bones.
The specific scope of practice of a podiatrist will be different from country to country with some countries like the USA where they have full surgical and medical privileges to treat the conditions of the foot to some countries in Europe where they can only use minimal strategies to treat superficial conditions of the skin and nails. The training necessary to be a podiatrist is very different between countries. In the USA, first you need an undergraduate degree, then a 4 year post graduate podiatry degree and then a 2-3 year residency. In some places in Europe, its only a community college one year undergraduate diploma. What a podiatrist is capable of doing is dictated by the extent of the education and the legislation.
Podiatrists are able to use a wide range of different strategies to treat problems of the foot. This may range from a simple scraping of skin disorders to foot orthotics for musculoskeletal conditions to reconstructive surgery for fractures. What exactly is used will depend on the above scope of practice and education that the podiatrist has had. Many podiatrists will also have various special interests such a rheumatology or orthopaedics and they will often be found working in multidisciplinary groups working in those areas. Probably the best contribution that podiatrists help to make to the medical care system is in areas like diabetes where good foot care and the management of foot problems bring about substantial saving to the health system in the prevention of amputations.