[raduda]

Yes LPN/LVNs can do foot care - which I did when I was one in the nursing home. However they must do this under the supervision of a RN or doctor according to state laws / Nurse Practice Acts. This means they can not be in an independent business providing this nursing service. If they are - they are liable to be committing tax fraud and malpractice. They risk losing thier nursing license and will not be covered by thier insurance company if anything happens to a client...

[raduda]

Cutting and trimming nails in most states is regulated by the medical, nursing, or cosmetology practice acts. I found out when I started my foot care business that when I painted a clients nails in the past I was actually functioning outside the scope of my practice as a nurse! Only licensed cosmetologists can legally do this for others.

Also some years ago in the podiatrists in the state of Michigan brought a law suit against 2 nurses who want to open a foot care clinic. At first the AG stunningly ruled in favor of the DPMs and said nurses could not touch peoples feet from the knees down! However after intervention by the Michigan Nurses Association on these nurses behalf - the AG finally had to overturn his ruling. These nurses lost a lot of money in the process.

Needless to say you must know alot to open a business of this - or any type - no matter how simple you think it may be... And also you must keep up on the law and current events.

I also highly recommend nurses be very involved with thier state nurses associations so they can assist in watchdogging for legislation from outside sources (hospitals, doctors, massage therapists, PTs, +++) that want to control nursing practice.

Remember - we nurses are great revenue generators - lets not let others take our hard earned money - and more importantly - set our standards of care!

[Guardian Angels]

This is something that I want to set up in my business. I am an RN< BSN.....I have a home health agency and supplemental staffing agency.............I have researched Medicare and it seems that I have to be a specialist to bill medicare. Have you set up the practice independently and bill patients independently?

What do you charge and what equipment and supplies do you use?

PM isn't working?

[LoisJean]

Angelbear: Take yourself and your toes to a podiatrist. Let him decide the diagnosis and treatment. There are many conditions which mimic the appearance of onycomycosis but a culture of the nail itself is the most accurate and appropriate way to diagnose. Secondly, there comes a time for most of us when pretty feet is no longer the norm. Our feet take terrible punishment over time...let me just say: thank the gods we don't walk on our faces!
Where I come from we have a saying: 'the only ugly foot is the one that isn't there'.
Have a professional check your feet...forget pretty and think "functional".

Just a suggestion.

Peace,
LoisJean

[raduda]

edited by The Moderator to remove advertising.

I hate to do this guys and gals... let's try to be careful and be respectful of the TOS (terms of service) of this bulletin board.

PM me if you have any questions.

nightngale1998

[LauraRoehrickRN]

This is the first time I have posted any message on this forum. I found the forum by doing a search on the interenet on foot care courses and came up with allnurse.com. I am a foot care nurse in private practice in California and have owned my own business for 8 years. There is not much in the way of foot care courses in the US, but Canada has many training programs and might be worth checking out. There is an annual foot care nurse course on the first Monday in October in Winnepeg that I presented at a few months ago that was great. There are 240 foot nurses in the provence of Mannitoba. I do not think there are half that number in the entire United States! The Canadians are far more organized than we are. The WOCN ( Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nurse organization) is in the process of developing a certified foot care program for RN's. I would like to know if the LVN's in the USA have any certified programs because they should be doing this too. There is definetely a major role that LVN's have in foot care. My approach is team work and I am working with and training both LVN's and RN's for my business. I would love to hear from anyone on this subject.

[adrienurse]

I am currently partway through a footcare for nurses course at Red River College in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. There are very complex aspects for providing footcare and this course involves 44 hours of lecture time and a practicum. It teaches basic footcare, ilnesses and deformaties of the foot and how to advise treatment and when to refer to specialists. I'm learning many valuable things about finding proper footwear and treating ulcers of the foot an leg.

I wouldn't advise anyone to go into the business of providing foot care unless they have taken specialized training.

[Tutti]

Hi everyone,

I took a course in foot care in Canada as well, because the US is far behind in this area. They have a 2 day course in Seattle Washington every year for foot care for nurses, put on by the Podiatry association. I have been to it 3 times now. They are slowly getting there. They have recommendations and they recommend this course and a follow up with observing a Podiatrist for so many hours. However, I know that Canada has actual laws and regulations for nurses to do foot care and that is why they have so many teaching certification programs available. I do foot care and I agree that no one should do it without the proper training. I am an LPN. Hope this is helpful!

Tutti

[LauraRoehrickRN]

If you copy and paste this web page, you should get information on a Level One foot care course for health professionals given by the folks at LEAP ( Lower Extremity Amputation Prevention Program) in Louisianna. It is a diabetic foot course but anyone interested in foot care needs to be well educated on the aspects of diabetic foot care. Hope this helps.

This is a sample of one of their Level 1 courses. I have not taken a course there but it sounds pretty interesting.

Objectives:
· Outline a staged diabetes management program
· Understand the mechanics of foot injury and pathway to lower extremity amputation in diabetes
· Identify the foot at risk of injury and amputation in diabetes
· Outline a comprehensive approach for the prevention of diabetes foot problems
· Correctly measure shoe fit in the high risk individual
· Outline treatment principles for diabetes foot lesions
· Perform a diabetes foot screen, assess the risk category and formulate an appropriate treatment plan

Program:
8:00 Registration, Coffee and Introductions
8:30 Staged Diabetes Management - L Pennington
9:15 Mechanics of Foot Injury in Diabetes - C Patout
10:00 Break
10:30 Identifying the Foot at Risk - J Birke
11:15 A Comprehensive Prevention Approach - C Patout
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Footwear for Injury Prevention - J Birke
1:30 Management of Foot Ulceration and Charcot Fractures - J Birke
2:15 Break
2:30 – 4:00 Foot Screening Practice Lab: (Required for Level-1 LEAP Certificate, wear appropriate clothing)






http://www.medschool.lsumc.edu/dfp/S...20Brochure.pdf

[nightingale]

Laura:

Thank you for posting. I am very interested in that seminar for THIS year. It sounds great.

Are there any books you could recommend for footcare? I am doing home healt now and hope to explore oppourtunites in doing this type of service in my community.

Thanks in Advance to anyone with some input.

Night