Practical Teaching Tips for Educating Podiatric Patients

• Foot/ankle care (office setting): Effective patient education—using plain language, visual aids (models/images), and customized informed consent drawings—helps patients understand procedures, hardware, and postoperative expectations.
• Adherence and outcomes: Clear education on disease cause and treatment plan improves patient compliance and outcomes; better understanding supports informed consent and reduces confusion.
• Communication approach: Assess understanding via body language, reinforce instructions with caregivers, provide handouts, and maintain accessibility (e.g., follow-up communication) to build trust and support adherence.

Please note: This content is a direct transcript, capturing the authentic conversation without edits. Some language may reflect the flow of live discussion rather than polished text. 

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Welcome back everybody to Podiatry Today Podcast, where we continue to bring you the best in foot and ankle medicine and surgery from leaders in the field. We've got back again with us today Dr. Elizabeth Daughtry from North Carolina. We are super excited to have her here again. She is a past president of the North Carolina Foot and Ankle Society, a diplomate of the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery, and a previous executive board member for the American Association of Women Podiatrists. She also currently serves on committees for both APMA and ACFAS and practices in Dunn, North Carolina. Welcome back with us again today.

Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM: Thank you for having me back, Jen.

Jennifer Spector, DPM: So the last time we spoke a little bit about how podiatrists enter into the world of speaking with the public about foot health and how that goes back to how you speak with patients in your office and how you provide that in-office education. And I'd love to ask you a couple of things today and get into some of the details of how you become a successful in-office patient educator. So you talked about building trust with your patients and that being a real pillar of how you're successful there. Do you have any particular approaches that you take or tricks that you use when you're getting into something pretty complex? Because you talk to your patients before surgery, you fill them in on all of the surgical details that they need to know to have informed consent. Or you may have patients often that have very complex chronic medical conditions like diabetes or peripheral arterial disease, things along those lines. How do you navigate that complexity while still being as practical as possible for that patient?

Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM: Well, I look at patients as if I was talking to my parent or a close friend, and that kind of leads to the trust aspect. I practice in a more rural area, so it's important that I use terminology that patients understand, but also have to bring in some of the more medical terminology occasionally, especially for informed consent. When I do surgical deep dives, I try to explain it to patients. I explain the mechanical aspect behind it as simply as I can. And also at times I'll use visual aids such as I'm a very visual learner. So I usually either pull up a foot picture or have foot models in the office and show the bones that I'm going to be cutting on my informed consents. I have an actual picture page. I highly recommend that in utilizing informed consent. Most of the informed consents are usually supplied by a hospital and it's a very basic generic form.

I do my own informed consents. And as I proceed through the informed consent, there is a picture page where I literally draw on there the bone that I'm cutting, the kind of screw type that I'm using versus a plate. And just to make sure that patients understand because those are the things that patients will not only remember, but they're usually some of the questions that patients have. They're always concerned about what hardware is in me, what do I need to be cognizant of in the post-op period? So utilizing those tools helps to make it easier, not only for me, but also for the patient to understand what is expected of them and what I will be performing.

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Yeah. It sounds a lot like combining learning styles just to make sure that you're sort of hitting on whatever an individual person's preference is certainly a wise way to go. And you talked about using language that is going to resonate with your population. Do you have any way that you assess truly if a patient is understanding you or if they're just deer in the headlights? Are there any cues that you look for?

Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM: Usually I will try to read the patient. Body language is definitely an art, and if I'm concerned about it, I usually reiterate some of this information the day of surgery with their significant other or their driver, just to make sure, especially postoperatively, what the patient should anticipate. I am one of those doctors that gives out my cell phone. So if a patient has a question or if they are worried about their foot or whatever, they can take a picture and text it to me. I'm very open and honest with my patients. And I feel like that has been successful for me and my practice over the years. And I think that that definitely adds a level of trust that you really need from your patients because otherwise they are going to be non-compliant.

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Well, speaking of adherence to your treatment recommendations, how do you feel having a strong in-office education plan impacts things like adherence, outcomes, or even medical-legal risk?

Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM: I think it's very important. And some of the medical malpractice lectures I've heard, that's one of the places that I got my informed consent from. Over the years, I've accumulated different handouts and it's all about patient education. If the patient understands what is the cause of the issue and what they can do to make it better for themselves, then most of the time patients are a little bit more apt to be compliant and have better outcomes. If they have better outcomes, then it's only going to be going reviews for you out in the public.

Jennifer Spector, DPM: You mentioned using handouts. I wonder if that's addressing yet another form of learning style. Some people might need to absorb and then refer back to something that's a trusted piece of material. Do you find that having that handout for them prevents some excessive doctor googling or WebMD searches?

Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM: I think that it does. And I think it reinforces the fact of me understanding that patients learn different ways. They absorb information. And I know that I'm a visual learner, so I feel like some patients will do better if they hear it and then read it. Everyone's different and I recognize that. And so that's one of the reasons why I have multiple different avenues for patients to get their information.

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Absolutely. So for podiatrists who are still kind of figuring it out, because I think we're all figuring it out, no matter whether you've been in practice for two months or 20 years, you're still learning new things about patients and how they'd like to receive information. Can you suggest one thing that podiatrists could do in their practice right now to improve their overall patient education offerings?

Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM: Take the time to sit and listen to your patients. I know some practitioners that spend less than five minutes with a patient and patients read your body language. And if you're not there for them, they can feel it and that will reflect upon you and your practice. You are your practice. Yes, your staff supports you and a bad staff is going to give you a bad name. Don't get me wrong in that regard. It's very true, but you at the end of the day are the ultimate person that the patient's going to rely upon. And so if you don't take the time to listen and then inform your patient, then they're not going to have a lot of trust in you and then they're not going to follow what you say.

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Well, definitely continuing to build that trust over time is paramount for any podiatrist. And thank you so much for sharing your experience and your insights with us today on this topic.

Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM: Thank you so much for having me.

Jennifer Spector, DPM: Well, if you'd like this episode and previous episodes, be sure to continue to join us for Podiatry Today podcast on podiatrytoday.com or your favorite podcast platforms.