A unique education introduces new profession in Sweden.

Posted date: 30 Dec 2020

Pedorthist (in Swedish: Fotortist) is a brand new vocational education starting this spring at Jönköping University. The education is conducted as a distance programme and introduces Pedorthist as a professional role in Sweden.

A Pedorthist is a professional working in a diabetic team which handles all foot-related issues and aspects. In many ways the profession is similar to a certified prosthetics and orthotist, but with a specialization in only foot-related issues – meaning they become experts in the foot and shoe-area with patient/customer responsibilities.

&ldquo To cover the need of well-educated patient handlers within this area spread over the entire country, the School of Health and Welfare has, together with the prosthetic and orthotic sector, worked on developing a distance education. In the current plan, the students will be in Jönköping for about five physical meetings during their two-year educational period, each of those occasions will have a duration of between 2-5 days. During these meetings in Jönköping the students will mainly focus on important practical elements as well as examinations,” says Simon Ramstrand, who has led the team behind the application to start the Pedorthist programme. Besides Simon, three external representatives from the orthopedic business sector have been part of the team.

All theoretical education will be conducted via a distance learning platform. The practical part of the education will be done through internship-placements at orthopedic departments, with support from the school in the form of instructions, seminars, and individual supervision. Hopefully, this will be a good arrangement for the departments, as the students can be a resource both during the educational period and then, after two years, as a fully trained new member of staff.

&ldquo It is great to finally have managed to make this education happen and that Jönköping University together with the business sector is bringing a whole new professional role to Sweden,” says Rickard Bergman, responsible for the Pedorthist education.

This form of education also means that a student can remain in their hometown during the entire educational period, as long as an internship can be offered there. The student can thereby be a resource already used to working within the team during their education and when they have graduated, they would have a natural place to work in their home region.

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GSP Admin