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Long weekend in Australia and footy (AFL) finals to keep the faithful entertained. Go Geelong.

Rand R aside, can anyone shed light on the recent situation concerning Australian Diabetes Educators? Apparently podiatry is no longer considered an appropriate foundation for entry to approved programs.

toeslayer

Cameron

The (relatively) newly graduated podiatrist that works in my practice has been enrolled in the Grad Cert in Diabetes Ed through UTS since the start of the year.

I suspect from her comments there are very few podiatrists interested in taking the course, although there is podiatry input, and it is predominantly nurses.

LL

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Remember, it's just a foot.

Cheers LL.

There was a statement in the WA State Association Journal (Pantaraxia) last month from the organisation for Diabetes Educators saying something about podiatry was no longer being accepted as a pre requisite qualification for entry to Diabetes Educators approved programs. I shall post a copy to the list.

My concern is what criteria was used to deem podiatry education inappropriate and what body could take thatresponsibility if it is an Australian wide situation ?

Whilst I accept not all pods may wish to pursue a career in diabetes education all practitioners would need to be throughly offey with challenges facing high risk clients and the circumastances which are asociated such as diet and insulin control. This would be axiomatic if the podiatry profession wishes to be taken seriously as a primary health care provider capable of working within a multi discipline group.

The action of the Diabetes Educators as an entity to publically dismiss (unchallenged?) a peer profession based upon what they perceive (as an outside entity) as inadequate training of Australian podiatrists is a major slap in the face for all podiatrists and in particular those responsible for undergraduate education in Australia.

Whether DE are correct in this assumption or not, their action begs further enquiry as to who spoke on behalf of podiatry education; and is the current core curriculum for undergraduate podiatry in Australia adequate to prepare a primary care workforce.

toeslayer

.

The Australian Diabetes Educators Association published a report this year (2007) called "The Credentialled Diabetes Educator in Australia: Role and Scope of Practice" (available at http://www.adea.com.au/public/conten...ory.aspx?id=39 then follow the link) which says that eligible professions for credentialling are RNs, accredited practising dietitians, registered pharmacists eligible to conduct medication management reviews (AACP or SHPA authorised) and medical practitioners. Apparently the review of credential-eligible professions was conducted this year, which would explain why podiatrists are still listed as eligible for entry to postgraduate courses (completion of which is part of, but not all of, the process of becoming a credentialled diabetes educator). Obviously it's not just podiatrists who stand to miss out, but it is curious that an undergraduate podiatric education isn't considered to be on the same level as an undergraduate nursing education. I did a full semester of physiology, a full semester of pharmacology, a little biochem, a few semesters of anatomy... My friends who did nursing did two semesters of Bioscience. Not to say they aren't fabulously competent, but I figure I have a grounding in basic sciences at least on their level. Not at the level of a medical practitioner, and I don't have the background in physiology that a dietitian has, but when you're interested in stuff you learn.

From a practical perspective, I wonder how this could impact on universities. Will people with professional backgrounds not eligible for "credentialling" still be eligible to enter the postgraduate programs? I would expect so, but it does restrict graduate outcomes insofar as graduates could feasibly not be eligible for medicare or DVA funding as diabetic educators. Again, not that completing a grad cert makes this automatic, but as a potential pathway.

So that's my take on it. That said, it wouldn't stop me from studying and learning and improving my knowledge when it comes to patient education.

Regards,
E
(soon to be no longer an undergrad student if all goes well).

Way back when (not that long ago...maybe a decade) i was seriously considering moving into Diabetes Education full-time, I discovered that most, if not all of the DE jobs in the Victorian Public Health system were "reserved" for nurses. (Something that had been negotiatied by the ANF at the time of the big Nurses strike in...1986? )
Allied Health background would not have had a chance to be employed in any of the positions. Not much point getting the qualification if you couldn't get employed.

Has this situation changed?

No. Pretty much all DE positions in Victorian public Hospitals are DNE positions, of which most are not accredited by the ADEA. The ADEA use to pretend to be a multidisciplanary association, but I stopped being a member, when they 1st started the push for these positions to be only for nurses. There argument has been that podiatrists do not have the grounding in total body management

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Stephen Tucker
Eastern Health
Podiatry Manager

My location

There has been a VERY recent policy change concerning this topic. Its now:
Link. Congratulation to those who worked on this...

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It's all politics and power games, nurses often put a lot of time and effort into that.....