A Flexible Career Is No Mean Feet
Sun Herald
Sunday December 21, 2008
There's much more to podiatry than cutting toenails, writes Martha Tattersall.
WHEN Lisa Thompson told friends she was moving to Albury to study podiatry, their reactions were less than encouraging. "I had one friend who sat me down and said: 'How come you're going to uni for four years to learn how to cut toenails?"' she says.It's a common misconception and one Thompson says she has been questioned about frequently. But her Bachelor of Health Science (Podiatry) at Charles Sturt University will allow flexibility, autonomy and a variety of work choices."My long-term ambition, and another reason why I wanted to do podiatry, is that I've spent a bit of time in Africa and I really wanted to learn something that I could take back over there," she says. "There are [already] physios and OTs [occupational therapists] and nurses and doctors and I saw that there could be a need for podiatry."Working overseas is just one of the drawcards of a degree in podiatry. There is also the abundance of jobs, the scope for employment in the public sector and private practice and the flexibility of working part-time while still earning enough money."As a profession, it ticks all the boxes," the podiatry program convener at the University of Newcastle, Vivienne Chuter, says. "There are a lot of job opportunities and areas to specialise in." The University of Newcastle, one of just two universities in NSW that run the course, offers a three-year bachelor course that requires students to undertake 1000 hours of practical experience. The program was started in 2007 to address the need for more qualified podiatrists."There is definitely a shortage for regional NSW," Chuter says. "It's never traditionally been the popular area for new graduates to go into but regional areas do offer great incentives."The associate professor and course co-ordinator of the podiatry school at CSU in Albury, Paul Tinley, also sees the value of regional experience. The four-year course, which similarly requires 1000 hours of practical work, puts emphasis on regional placements."At least one of the placements is done in a rural area and, depending on what's available, we tend to encourage that particular part of the program," he says. "The demand for podiatry is huge with our ageing population ... we've got reasonable numbers of podiatrists in most major cities but the place that is dramatically missing is rural health."Tinley says there are many advantages to choosing podiatry as a career. "Podiatry really does give you a profession at the end of it and it's a growing market," he says. "You're never, ever going to be out of work."Thompson, who has just completed her course and has a job lined up in Melbourne, saw the rural emphasis of CSU as an advantage. "I thought that that would best prepare me for Africa," she says, adding that the small classes and family atmosphere on campus were other reasons for her choice."There's only a couple of locals and most of the others are from everywhere around Australia so everyone becomes really close, really quickly," she says. "I've gained lots of close friends through the experience."
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