Podiatry Student Profile: Kerry Ewins-Strowger

Kerry Ewins-Strowger is a Second Year MSc Podiatry (pre-registration) student at Health Sciences University. Kerry shares the personal story that led her to study podiatry. She also tells us about how she has recently used VR as a distraction method at a clinical placement.

Personal Motivation

“My first daughter was born with a very rare lymphatic disease called Pulmonary Lymphangiectasia, which only eight people in the world have.

“A side effect of the disease is she has something called Primary Lymphoedema, which means she is permanently swollen on the whole left side of her body.

“This affected her foot and her leg in a way that meant she would constantly get infections, so she’d be hospitalised every three to four weeks.”

“I thought to myself that I need to know more about this! I did a private foot health chiropody course in 2002, and I came out being able to call myself a Foot Health Practitioner. I decided to run a little self-employed business doing this and did that for about twelve or thirteen years.

“I had originally qualified as a secondary school teacher in 1994 and a few years later when my daughter was older, I got the urge to get back into education, so I did a Masters degree in Psychology of Education and ended up becoming a Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

“I worked in a senior leadership role in a primary school. I’ve got a passion for learning disabilities and accessibility. I realised I was at a turning point in my life in 2022 when I turned 50, where the next logical step was to be a Headteacher, so I knew I had to go one way or the other. I couldn’t maintain a full-time role and run a Foot Health business!

“My children said to me, “mum, you need to go all the way with your feet business” so I did a google search and that was how I found the course at Health Sciences University. It was important to me that the course was HCPC registered.

“My daughter is twenty-eight now and we’ve been in and out of hospital for all her life, but she is now married with a little one and has just qualified as a doctor, so an amazing achievement! I know from her training, that doctors actually get very little training in foot pathology, so she texts me for advice.”

Innovation on Placement

“I recently completed my placement, as part of the course. The toenail surgery procedures that people have at this placement can be painful and they’re very anxiety-provoking. They involve us giving two Local Anaesthetic injections at the base of the toe before the toenail is removed. Many patients are usually children too. Clinics typically see a high number of no-shows for this kind of procedure.

“Distraction methods can be really helpful for patients undergoing this procedure and can make it a lot less stressful.

“The placement provider had virtual reality (VR) headsets, similar to the sort used for gaming. You ask patients to put them on so that they are totally taken away from what’s going on in the procedure.

“I had never seen anything like it before – it’s a fantastic distraction method.

“If podiatrists can make the first experience ok, then patients are more likely to come back for their second toenail surgery. They’ll tell their friends it wasn’t so bad, which has a knock-on effect.

“Worst case scenario if you are immune compromised or diabetic, if the cause of the infection isn’t removed so you don’t heal e.g. nail spike, you might have to have a toe amputated!  Or you end up having lots of antibiotics constantly which is also not a good idea long term.

“The VR headset means that people are more likely to attend their appointments.

“They are looking into new ways of using a device that will tap your hands that will take your mind off of what’s going on as well ,which I think is really quite forward thinking.”

“This placement also had well explained leaflets with diagrams/pictures and short easy read sentences for those with learning differences- which of course is still a passion of mine.”

What do you like about the Podiatry course?

“It is really interesting and it’s so funny because people just think you cut toenails. Actually, there’s very little toenail cutting. It’s very diverse because you’re looking at all the systems in the body. We have studied anatomy and physiology, dermatology, MSK, chronic conditions and pharmacology. What people don’t seem to realise is that we do a lot of MSK/gait assessments which was an area I felt less confident in, but not now. We can supply 3 antibiotics (and anti-fungals/pain killers) without the patient needing to go to a GP as this course does the Prescription Only Medicines (POMS) training too. We are also trained to administer Local Anaesthetics and do nail surgery, so a bit more than nail cutting.

“The course lead, Simon Otter, has also got some really brilliant speakers to come and talk to us. It’s been really interesting. We approach the patient as a whole person and we are being trained to really think about the biopsychosocial elements to every patient we treat. There is a lot of public health involved in the advice that we give, the teacher in me loves all this.

“I’ve also really loved being at the university with the ultrasound and scanning equipment.

“It’s been brilliant being able to work in the clinic; you’re treated as a colleague and you are part of a team.

“I want to say the prosection lab as well. I didn’t know how I was going to feel about it, but it was actually really fascinating to see all the anatomy and physiology for real and I love how respectful everyone is as well.”

Highlights of the Course

“A big highlight for me was volunteering with the London Marathon in the intensive care tent. I was part of the medical team there and I loved that.

“We were in the main medical tent and there were constantly people coming in.

“I think the nature of the injuries I witnessed and being able to emotionally support people at the marathon was great, I absolutely loved that.”

What do you want to do in the future?

“You might assume that I want to work in NHS but I am learning that there are actually lots of options and I am very open-minded. I could become a researcher or work in a private clinic. HCPC registration really is a passport for many job opportunities including abroad.

“I know that wherever I end up working, I am still going to be able to alleviate the issues patients have because I have received really excellent training.”

You can find out more about MSc Podiatry (pre-registration) course here.