Podiatry career framework

Abstract

Podiatry is a first point of contact profession for foot and lower limb conditions. Basic training prepares podiatrists with core capabilities at level 6 in clinical practice, leadership and management, research and education; by graduation they are ready to develop any or all of these capabilities more broadly or more deeply with career portfolios that reflect their aspirations, talents and interests.Over a career span, podiatrists accumulate knowledge, skills and experience - by formal training pathways such as in podiatric surgery, or more ad hoc as training opportunities become available. The aims of the Podiatry CareerFramework (PCF) are twofold:1. To communicate the breadth and depth of podiatrists’ accumulated capabilities and experience to be easily readable to others.2. To aid personal career planning.Podiatrists are increasingly choosing hybrid roles and moving into new fields of work and yet this is often only evident on a retrospective CV. The PCF is prospective by design and aligns podiatry to relevant external frameworks to ensure the profession maps to existing clinical, education, research and management & leadership pathways. Podiatrists are first and foremost AHPs and share common areas of practice, governance, values and behaviours with other AHPs,nurses and doctors. There is, therefore, the potential for podiatrists, to be represented at every level of the health sector in clinical practice, research, development and innovation in leadership and management, and in education.Podiatrists frequently work in isolation, and the regional branches of the Royal College of Podiatry (RCPod) create the primary opportunities for developing networks of support with fellow clinicians to develop essential supervision relationships. Having the PCF in common will be an additional tool to help with reflection and gap analysis in supervision conversations leading to more focused career planning.A critical mass of podiatrists is required to achieve a robust future for the profession to ensure it continues to positively impact the health and mobility of people in the UK. Entry to the podiatry profession is represented in the PCF as one point along a continuum of education and training in foot health practice with the potential to build non-standard entry pathways into pre-registration podiatry/podiatric medicine degree programmes over time. With added flexibility intopre-registration degree programmes, the profession will have greater opportunity to grow and meet the ever-increasing healthcare needs of people with foot and lower limb conditions.In this first iteration, the PCF is a ‘2D’ tool but should be conceptualised as a 3D model with breadth and depth of experience, level of qualification and competence, and overall development in a career lifetime. With the capability of the profession mapped it will, in time, unveil the potential among podiatrists, in clinical practice, research, development and innovation, education, and leadership and management through portfolio careers, for maximum impact.

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ORCID for Emma Cowley: orcid.org/0000-0002-4486-9037

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