By: Liezel Jacinto LPN CFCN (Certified Foot Care Nurse)

• health history and footcare assessment
• defining nail edges, cutting, and filing of nails and nail reduction.
• Ingrown toenail care
• softening and buffering of corns and calluses
• application of non-Medicaid padding, if indicated
• foot massage
• foot hygiene and footwear education
• Direct Billing is available (read more)

A foot nurse is essential if you have any of the following conditions: diabetes, heart or circulatory problems, infections, obesity, blood disorders, arthritis etc.

Scope of Practice

A licensed practical nurse providing foot care has received post-graduate education designed to enhance her/his theoretical knowledge and provide the practitioner with an understanding of nursing foot care, which includes:

• The roles and responsibilities of a foot care nurse
• Anatomy and physiology of the foot and lower extremity
• Structure and function of the foot and nail
• Knowledge and use of instruments used in nursing foot care
• Common foot pathology and related nursing interventions
• Changes in the foot due to chronic diseases
• Nursing assessment of the foot and lower limb
• Infection control

Nursing foot care is an important component of total nursing care, which includes health promotion, client teaching, promoting safety and comfort. To promote optimal health, the nurse will apply the principles of the nursing process when assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating the client's foot health care needs. The nurse collaborates with the client to develop a plan of care and encourages the client to assume responsibility for his/her own health.

It is the nurses professional responsibility to recognize when the client's condition is beyond his/her scope of practice and referral to the appropriate professional is necessary.

Conditions

• Corns and Calluses
• Diabetic Foot
• Fungus (Athlete's foot)
• Ingrown Toenails
• Plantar Fasciitis
• Plantar Warts
• Bunions
• Hammertoes