Program Profile Series: Foot Solutions Academy of Pedorthic Science; Francis Tuttle Technology Center; and The Robert M. Palmer, MD, Institute of Biomechanics

The O&P EDGE continues its series of National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE)-accredited O&P educational programs. This month we feature three pedorthic education programs. Foot Solutions Academy of Pedorthic Science, Pedorthist Certificate Program Background NCOPE and its Commission on Accreditation of Pedorthic Education (CAPE) committee established standards for pedorthic education, which include the requirement that each pedorthic education program be sponsored by a post-secondary academic institution. Consequently, the Foot Solutions Academy of Pedorthic Science, Atlanta, Georgia, Pedorthist Certificate Program is sponsored by the College of Continuing and Professional Education at Kennesaw State University, Georgia. The Foot Solutions educational program began as an arm of the Foot Solutions retail shoe and orthotics franchisor, providing pedorthic training to franchise owners and their employees. William Faddock, DPM, CPed, is Foot Solutions' chief of pedorthic training. He began teaching there in 2000, and by 2002, the program began admitting nonfranchisees who were interested in pedorthic education. It is also approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for its education benefits program, depending upon the service the member qualifies for. Program The program was initially certified by the Board for Certification in Pedorthics (BCP), before BCP was integrated into the American Board for Certification in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics (ABC) in 2007. Over time, the curriculum has expanded to include new material as the profession has evolved and the educational requirements have increased. In spite of the additional content, "we have been able to refine this course to a very concise, precise bunch of information that is absolutely necessary for the practicing pedorthist to understand and have," says Faddock. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Faddock performing a fitting. Photograph courtesy of Foot Solutions.[/caption] The course is held at the Foot Solutions pedorthic training facility over three weeks-eight hours a day, Monday through Saturday. A new class begins every five to six weeks, and typically seats eight to ten students. The didactic portion of the course is held on the weekdays, and students spend Saturdays in the lab, where they are taught to pour plaster, mold and grind orthotics, and cast for custom-molded shoes, foot orthotics, and AFOs. Faddock teaches the medical portion of the curriculum, beginning with pedorthic terminology, anatomy, and physiology of the foot and ankle, anatomical landmarks, and common foot pathologies. He also teaches about the muscles of the pelvis, hip, and thigh, "although that's not part of the pedorthic armamentaria," he says. "However, if you don't know what's above the knee, how are you going to help what's below the knee?" Johnathan Fogg, CPed, teaches materials classes, and Donna Robertson, MS, ATC, CPed, teaches the practical pedorthic classes, including various aspects of pedorthic practice, such as billing, licensure, and accreditation. "What we're doing is putting the finishing touches on the knowledge [the students] possess and expanding on it and making them more comfortable with it." Teaching methods in the program include student participation. "When you have them in the lab, you have a bunch of pairs of feet, and all of them are different," Faddock says. "So you [can] say, 'Let's look at this pair of feet.... Let's talk about what we can do for this pair of feet.'" Students Most students who enroll in the Foot Solutions Academy of Pedorthic Science are in their mid- to late-20s, and about two-thirds are women. Applicants to the 144-hour program must have 1,000 hours of hands-on experience that should include fitting shoes and orthotic devices, fabrication, and working directly with an orthotist, prosthetist, or pedorthist. With that level of experience, Faddock explains, the students who enroll in the program "understand what kinds of questions are asked of them [and] what kind of materials they need to understand, and have a broad perspective" of the skills required of a board-certified pedorthist. With their prior experience, Foot Solutions' students are prepared to sit for the ABC or Board of Certification/ Accreditation (BOC) pedorthic certification exam upon course completion. Francis Tuttle Technology Center Francis Tuttle Technology Center, certificate in Pedorthic Practice Management Background Francis Tuttle Technology Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a three-campus public career and technology education center with nearly 40,000 enrolled students. It's part of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, and is named for a 20-year director of the department who was inducted into the Oklahoma CareerTech Hall of Fame for his leadership in the field. The technology center serves high school students by providing tuition-free career training and college preparatory courses, provides training and consulting services to local businesses, and offers career development and enrichment courses to traditional and adult learners. Joseph Young, CPO, is the director and a full-time instructor of Francis Tuttle's Pedorthic Practice Management program and its O&P technician program, which are taught independently of each other. Young has been with the center since 2004, and began development of the pedorthic program in 2010. The program shares a cooperative alliance with Oklahoma City Community College. Young says that the OP&P programs have been phased in over the last ten years "to increase the value of our students to industry by adding curriculum that leads to multiple industry-supported certifications." Program The pedorthic program was first introduced in 2012 as a face-to-face offering to students in the O&P technician program, and was opened to all enrollees in August 2013. The one-semester program admits about ten students; semesters begin each January and August. Young says that the program has been filling all of its seats, with only a few qualified applicants having to postpone their enrollment until the next semester. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] Dee McKasson (right) helps a student fabricate a metal AFO. Photograph courtesy of Francis Tuttle Technology Center.[/caption] The pedorthic education program was designed to cater to working adults, who comprise a majority of the student cohort. Most of the program applicants are already working in the field, usually with another pedorthist, in podiatry offices, or in retail stores. Fifteen weeks of the 17-week semester are completed online, with access to instructor support. The course content includes pedorthic practice management, treatment plans, common pathologies, equipment and materials, anatomy and physiology, biomechanics, an introduction to O&P, and fabrication. Students must complete 15 hours of online education each week. During the online portion of the course, students build their foundational knowledge in preparation for the 80-hour, two-week "boot camp" that is held at the technology center's Rockwell campus. The boot camp offers the students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience casting, fitting, and evaluating devices. Dee McKasson, CO, joins Young as a full-time instructor in the pedorthic and technician courses. Students Applicants to the pedorthic program must include two references from OP&P providers and have a high school diploma or GED. New students receive a materials kit to work with during the offsite portion of their education. Materials include pedorthic supplies for evaluating patients, testing materials, and creating small projects. For example, for some of the small projects students are required to build anatomical structures-the musculature, nervous, and circulatory systems of the lower limb-with supplied modeling clay. Online videos of fabrication processes are also provided as part of the preparatory work so that when the students arrive on campus they are prepared to begin application of the knowledge they've gained immediately. Once on campus for the two-week boot camp, the students team up as lab partners and use each other as patient models to modify, cast, and fit devices. Aside from regular quizzes and tests throughout the coursework, the students must also produce a pedorthic device of deliverable quality as a final project. The Robert M. Palmer, MD, Institute of Biomechanics The Robert M. Palmer, MD, Institute of Biomechanics, Pedorthic Pre-Certification Course Background After beginning her career in a podiatric office, and then as co-owner of a national podiatry lab in the 1970s, Pam Haig, CPed, the founder of The Robert M. Palmer, MD, Institute of Biomechanics, Elwood, Indiana, and her husband, Joe Haig, OST, CPed, "saw the opportunity that we could share podiatric knowledge." Development of the school began in 1996 with support from Oklahoma State University (OSU), Okmulgee, now the program's postsecondary academic institution sponsor. Robert Palmer, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and the institute's namesake, who in 1984 began referring his patients to the couple, joined Haig's effort in 2006 to help launch pedorthic precertification education. The school opened in 2002, incorporated in 2003, and became a not-for-profit entity in 2004, the same year it enrolled its first students. "We're not a traditional school," Haig says. "We are clinicians, in practice, that wanted to share our theories." Program Haig and her husband are the primary instructors, with several adjuncts who also contribute to teaching. The program was initially certified by BCP and covered "applied foot and ankle biomechanics, which is a facet of pedorthic precertification," explains Haig. The current rendition of the program is a mixture of online and on-site education. The on-site portion requires a ten-day stay, but no students have yet reached that stage of the program, as the institute awaits NCOPE accreditation. The school delivered its final curriculum revisions to NCOPE in September and will be ready to award certificates by the end of this year. In 2007, the addition of subtalar-control foot orthosis (SCFO) education was incorporated and warranted additional educational hours to encompass new technologies, materials, theories, and the pedorthic scope of practice increased to include prefabricated AFOs to the knee. The curriculum currently stands at 140 hours. Haig describes the program methodology as "podiatric biomechanics with an emphasis of orthopedic applied theory. We do teach O&P technology, but we also want to make sure we get pedorthists trained in podiatry offices. And that's a totally different language." Haig recommends that students with less medical background spend more time on the online portion of the program to learn and fully synthesize the content. She suggests that mastery of the material is when students can prove "competency in the clinic, competency in the lab, [and] competency with other students [to the point] that they can communicate theory to one another...." Once students are on-site, they will spend the first two-and-a-half days at "ground zero"-an interactive lecture series during which the theories they were introduced to in the online portion of the program are discussed. Each day involves fewer lectures and more hands-on work until the fourth day, when students begin spending full days with patients or interacting with retail customers. All students also act as patient models, using artificial lesion placement to help their classmates learn to correctly accommodate around various wounds and injuries. The last day of the course is the competency test, during which students demonstrate their understanding of theory and perform hands-on competency-driven assignments. Students Students tend to be men who range in age from 30 to 45, and who are retailers and/or providers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies. Seven students are in the process of completing the online portion, and the school prefers no more than eight students per class. Students can complete the course as their schedules permit, but are encouraged to finish within one year. Graduates will need to complete 1,000 hours of practice before taking the ABC or BOC certification exam. Haig believes the pedorthic education standards will continue to advance. "If anyone has a desire to pursue pedorthic education, they should do it sooner rather than later," she says. "Because as we align with universities or post-secondary institutions, it will be a more challenging curriculum, more competency driven, that will drive the cost of the tuition up- especially once college credit hours are accumulated or additional hours are added toward an associate degree, which may be five years in the future or longer." Editor's note: Articles in this series do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation of any program. Programs will be covered in an order determined by the editor, and all NCOPE-accredited degree programs, O&P technician programs, and pedorthic programs will be given the opportunity to be featured. To read about previously featured programs, visit the archives and search for program profile series.

Program Profile Series: Foot Solutions Academy of Pedorthic Science; Francis Tuttle Technology Center; and The Robert M. Palmer, MD, Institute of Biomechanics

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Program Profile Series: Foot Solutions Academy of Pedorthic Science; Francis Tuttle Technology Center; and The Robert M. Palmer, MD, Institute of Biomechanics

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