Help!! Podiatry students!!!

Original post by sleep_supremacy

Tagging @University of Huddersfield, I believe their rep studies podiatry :smile:

Hi @starrainaight & @sleep_supremacy,

Yes our rep Oluwatosin studies Podiatry, we have alerted her to your message, please await a reply in here shortly :smile:

Many thanks,
Lewis
Social Media & Content Officer
University of Huddersfield

Reply 6

It says 94 percent are satisfied however that's from the 20-40% of the class that graduate . Most student's leave or fail and to be honest I question that statistic; during my time in the podiatry course all I heard was negativity from snr students regretting picking podiatry, due to a lack of opportunity, availability of nhs jobs and limited scope of practice.

The problem is the clinic atmosphere and clinical exams. It does not matter if your a straight A student you will be walking on egg shells worried about failing the end of Yr clinical exam.

During 2nd and 3rd yr half my class was failing the clinical exam and having to resit , you only get two attempts then your basically out the door , it's very cut throat. Can you imagine the stress and anxiety your carrying into the final attempt knowing if u f--k up all your hard work was for nothing .

The clinic is a very toxic environment, I think the main issue is the attitude of the staff. An example would be them wanting students to refer to them as Mrs Mr etc however this never materialised as many mature students would not have it.

I did observe a pretentious clinical leader shout at a 18yr old student for using her first name in clinic. They also have no problem humiliating students in front of thier peers and patients if they think your knowledge Is not up to par. The issue with this is they want a very indeph medical understanding of conditions , anatomy , medication pathways however have literally no scope of practice to back it up.

If you study Podiatry be prepared to have pretentious wannabe Dr types , grilling you about every condition in the patients past medical history at a indeph pathological level , all whilst the patient is in clinic for a toe nail cut and bit of dead skin scraped of his foot.

Most Podiatrists don't want to be Podiatrists, as stated above ,student's join the course on the rebound after getting rejected from other medical or health professions .

Avoid at all costs , you could be extremely disappointed and in a tone of debt in a few yrs .

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 7

It's also worth pointing out from the failed students , two of us are now Nursing student's that will soon be entering our final yr , one is studying primary school teaching and another is doing Occupational therapy .

We all had passed the University based modules first attempt . Take from that what u want however I guess what I'm trying to say is if it can happen to us it can happen to anyone.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 8

Original post by starrainaight

I have been seeing mixed reviews regarding podiatry. I got 2 offers as of the moment to study podiatry in CardiffMet and GlasgowCale for 2023. Yes, podiatry is my first choice and I am leaning towards GlasgowCale.

However I am starting to rethink my choice. I read that unis are failing A LOT of their students during clinical (someone said they were 44 at first and only 18(?) graduated), the workload is heavy compared to what you would be practicing, and many more.

I am an international student, so i will be in debt for about £100,000 in tuition fees & monthly needs after graduating. My parents income are only about £4,000 monthly (combined). However there is an initiative from my government that if I were to achieve first class, I will be granted full ride scholarship, if 2:1 80% scholarship and 2:2 40% scholarship. (Ps: If I chose to study locally, I will be studying either engineering/human nutrition/biomed science with confirmed full ride scholarship (free tuition, monthly allowance, transportation allowance, books allowance, glasses allowance etc.) & also, podiatry is not offered in my country)

I really do want to become a podiatrist, but my biggest fear is failing mid-way and left with a large amount of debt without any qualification instead😔

My questions are:
•is aiming for first class achievable for podiatry? Is it worth pursuing?
•how easy is it to fail clinical? what makes clinical so difficult?
•if there’s many who failed, why is it that in the website of GlasgowCale said 94% are satisfied with their course & 94% students said the staff are good at explaining things?
•and also in discussion of this, are podiatrists highly needed still? I might need to work elsewhere to pay my debt (if I didn’t achieve a first) as my local hospital only pays about £1000+ monthly for graduate podiatrist

Any advice, suggestions or replies are highly appreciated, thank you so much for reading!

@starrainaight

Hello! I’m Oluwatosin and I study podiatry at the University of Huddersfield : )

Congratulations on your offers! Of course, I would recommend that you check out the University of Huddersfield but it’s great that you are planning to study podiatry!

I haven’t heard about universities trying to fail students during clinical exams, but of course it’s important that students can treat and practice safely. They need to follow high standards of health and safety to keep them and their patients safe.

In my first year, there were about 60 people on my course, but this year the number has reduced because the second year is more intense! Any healthcare degree is demanding and it is the same with podiatry.

From my experience, lecturers are definitely not trying to fail students to keep numbers down. There is a huge shortage of podiatrists in the UK, so the more podiatrists the better! There are not many places in the UK that do podiatry, it is not well-known (a lot of people still think of it as chiropody) and podiatry is not as popular in comparison to the other allied health professions. When I tell someone that I study podiatry, they find it weird that I spend my time touching people’s feet!

Year 1 clinical exams are all about demonstrating good communication with the patient, some understanding of their medical history and how it might impact your treatment, applying knowledge and safely and competently treating the patient.

In a clinical exam, you can haem (cut) a person and still pass (!), as long as you follow the right procedure after cutting them. (It is something that happens in normal practice, so as long as you know how to handle the situation safely it’s not a problem.)

Year 2 is the same as Year 1 but you are expected to have good understanding of their medical history i.e. knowledge about the medical conditions they have, knowledge about the medication taken and how this knowledge should affect treatment. For example, whether that is asking about their last blood glucose test, their INR ratio (are they likely to bleed a lot, if you cut them) or whether they may have delayed healing as they are a heavy smoker or on immunosuppressants. It is also about knowing how to perform vascular and neurological assessments and being able to interpret them and how that may impact your treatment e.g. writing a letter to their GP or referring them for further investigations.

I am not yet in Year 3, but again it’s taking it up a level in preparation for graduation in terms of diagnosing, treating and managing patients who may be high risk e.g., a diabetic patient with deformity and neuropathy.

I haven’t seen the reviews you refer to, but COVID may have had an impact on the number of people who graduated. Online sessions are very difficult when the subject is practical and when you need to practice the skills being taught.

It’s very difficult to say what you should do as inflation is high at the moment in the UK and that is affecting home students as well as international students. So you do have to consider your financial situation as there is a lot to learn on a podiatry course. You are not in every day but you are expected to put in the work outside of lectures and seminars. You may consider getting some part-time work but you are limited as to how many hours you can work as a student, and of course working too many hours may affect your studies and the potential to gain a full scholarship.

Are you hoping to work as a podiatrist in the UK, in your home country or elsewhere?

Like any degree, if you are prepared to work hard and have an interest in the subject, then you are more likely to do well.

I was really nervous about studying podiatry. My background is art and though I am good at science, I am naturally stronger on the creative side. It has been difficult to memorise so many things and to learn so much new information, but it’s also been really fascinating! I don’t regret studying podiatry. I almost wish I had studied it earlier!

In answer to your questions:

Is aiming for first class achievable for podiatry? Is it worth pursuing?

A first class is achievable, but you do have to be willing to put in the work. Whether that is working in the evenings or putting in time on the weekend, though of course you need to balance this with rest!

The first year of a degree in the UK does not count towards your final result, but you still need to pass the year to make it on to the second year. The second year and third year do count. To pass a module, you need to get 40%. If you fail, you can resit the exam or assessment in the summer, but for a resit, you cannot get more than 40%. You need to get at least 40% in all your modules to make it to the next year.

If you are hoping to do research, then a first will look good and may help with furthering your academic career. Of course, you can practise podiatry without getting a first, though some private clinics, in an attempt to showcase their credentials do highlight that they got a first.

if there’s many who failed, why is it that in the website of GlasgowCale said 94% are satisfied with their course & 94% students said the staff are good at explaining things?

It may be the timing of the reviews. COVID had a negative impact overall on student life, so this may have contributed to people failing especially when the country was in lockdown. It is good that you are critiquing your research! It might be an idea to check how many students did the survey in comparison to how many students were on the course and if they are talking specifically about podiatry.

are podiatrists highly needed still?
Yes! They are still needed. There is a shortage in the UK as many podiatrists are nearing retirement age and not enough people are training to be podiatrists. We also have an ageing population with multiple comorbidities. With increasing levels of obesity, Type 2 diabetes is also on the rise, with more young people being diagnosed. You can As a podiatrist, you could become a diabetes specialist as it is a huge area of podiatric care.
You can find out more about specialisms and pay here.

I hope that helps. Sorry it’s such a long read.

Please feel free to reach out again / to private message me.

All the best!

Oluwatosin

Reply 9

Original post by NJBSaidit

Yes, there are mixed reviews of podiatry. It really does depend what you're looking for in a course and a career. I'm regarded as very negative about podiatry, but I am just being honest. I'll tell you a quick story that resonated with me on my course, and it is part of the reason I dropped out.

I have written UCAS statements for my students, helped them research universities, careers etc. I found the Prospects website brilliant for this. I was always half-interested in switching career to a health-related job, so I was always keen to read around the topics for students. About eight years ago there was a case study of a mature student who'd switched careers and become a podiatrist. She described podiatry as a "routine, simple" profession but was fairly contented after being in a banking job for years and it fitted around childcare. The interesting thing is that case study disappeared pretty quickly from the Prospects website. Make of that what you will.

I realised after about seven weeks of my own podiatry course that it wasn't for me. I kept thinking of that case study (and someone from a family of podiatrists who coincidentally said the same thing).

What I'm trying to say is that podiatry is often not what the universities portray it to be. They'll claim there's scope to become a podiatric surgeon or someone at the same level as a doctor. They'll say you can earn a fortune in the private sector. They'll claim that the industry is growing due to patient demand. I'm sorry, but these are distortions mixed with untruths.

Look, the work of podiatrists is absolutely crucial. Vulnerable people need competent and attentive people to cut toenails, remove calluses, treat corns and verrucae, and sometimes dress wounds. That is what podiatrists do for 90-95% of the time. People who claim differently are either lecturers trying to get you on the course to claim the fees, or they're current students who are trying to justify their own decisions to attend the course in the first place.

Two harsh realities:
1. podiatrists are not doctors - nowhere near it
2. podiatry is the lowest of the allied health professions.

There are people who will be angry at those statements, but they are the truth. Most people end up in podiatry because they couldn't get the grades for things like physio, dietetics, OT or speech therapy. This includes the lecturers teaching you, many of whom, when younger, harboured dreams of being doctors but just weren't the right calibre; some of them just wanted an easy route to becoming an academic. Why is this even important? It's important because you have to be careful of the motives of those desperate to get you on the course. Take a look at some of the more negative comments about podiatry because those are the most honest ones.

From what I know by communicating with those with experience in Scotland, Scottish universities are academically more rigorous. And that's a good thing. But my experience with Cardiff was that it was dumbed down to something not much higher than GCSE level. I am not joking. The pre-clinical exam is a joke (and there's some sharp pratice in how they make exam questions almost identical to the mock exam..). It's all very well making the course nice and easy in order to keep as many people on it as possible (just long enough to get past the cut-off point in November when students become legally liable to pay the fees...), but you will feel like a fraud and feel cheated.

Clinical assessment is not something I experienced in my time there, so I can't comment. But, given what I know about some of the more...ahem...egotistical and childish staff members, I can imagine it's an 'interesting' process...

I'm happy to expand, if you like. Take a look at some of the other discussion on this from about six months ago (unfortunately, the Huddersfield rep signs his name with his course and it clogs up the podiatry forums search). My experiences chime with the experiences of others. Always remember, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

From what you said, you sound like a very able and switched-on student. You seem to be highly competent in science. Therefore, you have the whole range of allied health professions potentially available to you. Do your research and beware of things that seem to glisten from afar...

@NJBSaidit

As you say, “the work of podiatrists is absolutely crucial”. Sometimes it is routine care that the podiatrist provides, but yet this routine care can prevent a patient from getting an ulcer, which due to their general health could easily become infected and become more serious. Latest research suggests that 190 amputations take place every week in England due to diabetes. Podiatrists are in a position to lower those statistics through routine care.

There are different specialties in podiatry and this is one way to earn a larger salary. The other main way is through having your own private clinic, but of course you need to build up a reputation or use networking and marketing skills to grow your number of patients. There are also a lot of initial costs in terms of equipment and ongoing expenses that have to be considered.

Podiatrists are not medical doctors (unless you train in the USA) but they are respected by their patients.

Podiatrists are not the lowest of the allied healthcare professionals. Multidisciplinary teams are essential for providing the best possible care for a patient. Podiatrists are valuable and valid members in such teams.

I am sorry that your experience has been so negative, but there are many podiatrists and podiatry students who are happy with their course and career.

Hope you find a career that you enjoy.

All the best,

Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield

P.s: I am female. I am sorry about clogging up the search function!

Reply 10

Original post by Dreamer36

It's also worth pointing out from the failed students , two of us are now Nursing student's that will soon be entering our final yr , one is studying primary school teaching and another is doing Occupational therapy .

We all had passed the University based modules first attempt . Take from that what u want however I guess what I'm trying to say is if it can happen to us it can happen to anyone.

@Dreamer36

I am sorry that your experiences of podiatry have been so negative.

Congrats on being more than halfway through your nursing course.

All the best for the future!

Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield

Reply 11

Original post by University of Huddersfield

@starrainaight

Hello! I’m Oluwatosin and I study podiatry at the University of Huddersfield : )

Congratulations on your offers! Of course, I would recommend that you check out the University of Huddersfield but it’s great that you are planning to study podiatry!

I haven’t heard about universities trying to fail students during clinical exams, but of course it’s important that students can treat and practice safely. They need to follow high standards of health and safety to keep them and their patients safe.

In my first year, there were about 60 people on my course, but this year the number has reduced because the second year is more intense! Any healthcare degree is demanding and it is the same with podiatry.

From my experience, lecturers are definitely not trying to fail students to keep numbers down. There is a huge shortage of podiatrists in the UK, so the more podiatrists the better! There are not many places in the UK that do podiatry, it is not well-known (a lot of people still think of it as chiropody) and podiatry is not as popular in comparison to the other allied health professions. When I tell someone that I study podiatry, they find it weird that I spend my time touching people’s feet!

Year 1 clinical exams are all about demonstrating good communication with the patient, some understanding of their medical history and how it might impact your treatment, applying knowledge and safely and competently treating the patient.

In a clinical exam, you can haem (cut) a person and still pass (!), as long as you follow the right procedure after cutting them. (It is something that happens in normal practice, so as long as you know how to handle the situation safely it’s not a problem.)

Year 2 is the same as Year 1 but you are expected to have good understanding of their medical history i.e. knowledge about the medical conditions they have, knowledge about the medication taken and how this knowledge should affect treatment. For example, whether that is asking about their last blood glucose test, their INR ratio (are they likely to bleed a lot, if you cut them) or whether they may have delayed healing as they are a heavy smoker or on immunosuppressants. It is also about knowing how to perform vascular and neurological assessments and being able to interpret them and how that may impact your treatment e.g. writing a letter to their GP or referring them for further investigations.

I am not yet in Year 3, but again it’s taking it up a level in preparation for graduation in terms of diagnosing, treating and managing patients who may be high risk e.g., a diabetic patient with deformity and neuropathy.

I haven’t seen the reviews you refer to, but COVID may have had an impact on the number of people who graduated. Online sessions are very difficult when the subject is practical and when you need to practice the skills being taught.

It’s very difficult to say what you should do as inflation is high at the moment in the UK and that is affecting home students as well as international students. So you do have to consider your financial situation as there is a lot to learn on a podiatry course. You are not in every day but you are expected to put in the work outside of lectures and seminars. You may consider getting some part-time work but you are limited as to how many hours you can work as a student, and of course working too many hours may affect your studies and the potential to gain a full scholarship.

Are you hoping to work as a podiatrist in the UK, in your home country or elsewhere?

Like any degree, if you are prepared to work hard and have an interest in the subject, then you are more likely to do well.

I was really nervous about studying podiatry. My background is art and though I am good at science, I am naturally stronger on the creative side. It has been difficult to memorise so many things and to learn so much new information, but it’s also been really fascinating! I don’t regret studying podiatry. I almost wish I had studied it earlier!

In answer to your questions:

Is aiming for first class achievable for podiatry? Is it worth pursuing?

A first class is achievable, but you do have to be willing to put in the work. Whether that is working in the evenings or putting in time on the weekend, though of course you need to balance this with rest!

The first year of a degree in the UK does not count towards your final result, but you still need to pass the year to make it on to the second year. The second year and third year do count. To pass a module, you need to get 40%. If you fail, you can resit the exam or assessment in the summer, but for a resit, you cannot get more than 40%. You need to get at least 40% in all your modules to make it to the next year.

If you are hoping to do research, then a first will look good and may help with furthering your academic career. Of course, you can practise podiatry without getting a first, though some private clinics, in an attempt to showcase their credentials do highlight that they got a first.

if there’s many who failed, why is it that in the website of GlasgowCale said 94% are satisfied with their course & 94% students said the staff are good at explaining things?

It may be the timing of the reviews. COVID had a negative impact overall on student life, so this may have contributed to people failing especially when the country was in lockdown. It is good that you are critiquing your research! It might be an idea to check how many students did the survey in comparison to how many students were on the course and if they are talking specifically about podiatry.

are podiatrists highly needed still?
Yes! They are still needed. There is a shortage in the UK as many podiatrists are nearing retirement age and not enough people are training to be podiatrists. We also have an ageing population with multiple comorbidities. With increasing levels of obesity, Type 2 diabetes is also on the rise, with more young people being diagnosed. You can As a podiatrist, you could become a diabetes specialist as it is a huge area of podiatric care.
You can find out more about specialisms and pay here.

I hope that helps. Sorry it’s such a long read.

Please feel free to reach out again / to private message me.

All the best!

Oluwatosin

Hey about covid, I studied pre covid and that's when the fail rates were ridiculously high . From what I've heard during the pandemic students mostly passed the clinical exam as it was done online. It's harder to fail someone when it's a written exam and they have clear evidence of thier performance.

I just find it ridiculous that yrs of study can come down to an exam based on one patient and a clinical lecturer's opinion of that student. Its like a driving test. Very unprofessional considering the lecturer's and clinical assessors are all friends and have well formed opinions of the students before the exam takes place.

It's just my opinion but the exam is used to gate keep people who's face might not fit out the profession.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 12

NJBSaidit

9

Original post by University of Huddersfield

@NJBSaidit

As you say, “the work of podiatrists is absolutely crucial”. Sometimes it is routine care that the podiatrist provides, but yet this routine care can prevent a patient from getting an ulcer, which due to their general health could easily become infected and become more serious. Latest research suggests that 190 amputations take place every week in England due to diabetes. Podiatrists are in a position to lower those statistics through routine care.

There are different specialties in podiatry and this is one way to earn a larger salary. The other main way is through having your own private clinic, but of course you need to build up a reputation or use networking and marketing skills to grow your number of patients. There are also a lot of initial costs in terms of equipment and ongoing expenses that have to be considered.

Podiatrists are not medical doctors (unless you train in the USA) but they are respected by their patients.

Podiatrists are not the lowest of the allied healthcare professionals. Multidisciplinary teams are essential for providing the best possible care for a patient. Podiatrists are valuable and valid members in such teams.

I am sorry that your experience has been so negative, but there are many podiatrists and podiatry students who are happy with their course and career.

Hope you find a career that you enjoy.

All the best,

Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield

P.s: I am female. I am sorry about clogging up the search function!

Sorry - your name is similar to someone I know and I just typed without thinking! Sorry about that! :-o

I absolutely agree that podiatry is worthwhile and the patients respect them. I actually mentioned in my post how crucial their service is to patients. But all allied health professions are worthwhile - it's just that some are more complex and involved than others. My point is that students often start the podiatry degree with a skewed view of what podiatry entails. Many seem to be seduced by this idea of podiatrists being on a level with doctors and physios. Some people even think that studying the podiatry degree will be a shortcut to getting into medicine or a postgrad physio course, thereby cutting the corner and not having to get really high grades at A-level or Access. This just isn't the case, and some people on the course with me realised this fairly quickly.

If people choose podiatry then that is not something that I'm saying is bad or shameful. Not at all. Good for them. People have their own lives and make their own decisions. Where I try to raise awareness is when potential applicants have unrealistic ideas of what they'll be doing. Some people - usually those who have had a career in something else that's stressful, like banking, teaching, social work, nursing etc - are happy to be in a routine profession and accept the routine nature of 95% of the work because it fits with family life and ensures they aren't pushed to the brink of a breakdown again. But some people are either misled into thinking it's something more grandiose, or they seem to want to go beyond their remit and pretend it's something it isn't. Let's just say that if someone were to apply for a PGCE to become a school teacher and then started saying they'll be a clinical psychologist or director of education for a Local Authority in a couple of years then I would step in and advise them they're misguided.

Some people (those that end up teaching on the podiatry courses) have a vested interest in getting as many people as possible onto their degree. I agree with Dreamer36 in that podiatry staff do appear to be of a certain ilk. Despite our courses being hundreds of miles apart (Glasgow Cal and Cardiff Met), our experiences appear to be very similar. I dread to think of what the clinical exams would have been like - there were staff members who were narcissistic and were perceived as bullies, who appeared to take pleasure in humiliating students. They would shout at mature students in their 20s, 30s and 40s, in and out of clinic, in front of peers and other staff. If students queried anything then they were labelled as trouble makers and swiftly told they didn't know what they were talking about (that's not an exaggeration), even if they had relevant experience. And don't even think about telling them you'd read around a subject because that would mark your card as someone who was a threat to be cut down to size. I'm not joking when I say these things. And the reason this is relevant is because, I think, it stems from insecurity because - as I've already said - podiatry is seen as the lowest of the health profession due to its overwhelmingly routine nature. If you're happy with routine work, fine; if you want variety, do something else; if you want something more challenging, do medicine, pharmacy, physio etc. Routine work is still valid work.

In terms of how the podiatry profession will develop, I believe that any work generated by increasing diabetes will be offset by changes in footwear and the availability of lots of medicaments now on the shelves in most chemists. Also, FHPs can do the vast bulk of what pods do. That's a good thing. Yes, I know this is the point where pods start saying "Yes, but we're qualified to do X, Y and Z, and FHPs can't do that etc etc". My response to that is this: Imagine if you had to phone a Gas Safe-registered plumber every time you had a leaking tap or blocked toilet. Imagine the cost per hour. Surely it's much better to phone an odd job person to come out for half the fee and the same level of skill. And in the rare instances you had a boiler to fit or a major gas leak then you call the fully qualified plumber. It's the same as pods and FHPs. Why pay £35 to have your toenails cut and a callus shaved when someone will do the same thing for half the price?

I would also add that my experience stems from pre-Covid... There were people on the course with zero knowledge of science. I mean, they didn't know what diffusion or osmosis was, or even that animal cells have a nucleus. The level of the work we undertook was just above GCSE and yet some people were really struggling. Saying that, we had lecturers who didn't know the difference between different essay instruction verbs or even what topic sentences were.

I'm glad that you're happy on the course, and that genuinely isn't sarcasm or a slight. If you enjoy it then good for you. My intention is to give a rounded view of podiatry. It wasn't what I thought it would be, and that means other people have felt the same way.

Best of luck in the future.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 13

Original post by University of Huddersfield

@Dreamer36

I am sorry that your experiences of podiatry have been so negative.

Congrats on being more than halfway through your nursing course.

All the best for the future!

Oluwatosin – 2nd year student – University of Huddersfield

Thanks

Good luck

Reply 14

Original post by harvysternet

It's great that you're considering your options and doing thorough research before making such an important decision. Pursuing a career in podiatry is a significant commitment, both in terms of time and financial investment.

There is no option, he can't get himself into 100k of debt to study podiatry... would be ludicrous

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 15

starrainaight

OP

2

Hi everyone! Thank you very much for the advice given. Haven’t check this in a while but just to update, I have made my decision & am currently enrolled into Bachelor of Health Science majoring in biomedical science course in my country with full scholarship (free tuition & allowances)! I’m still a young woman, so my opportunity to study in the UK someday is still vast. I have also been offered a scholarship to continue one semester abroad if I get a certain amount of cGPA. At the moment I am enjoying my course. Once again thank you very much for the replies. Hope everyone is well :smile:

Reply 16