A guest blog from Monique Cleary, podiatry student at the University of Southampton and one of the #150Leaders. The blog presents Monique’s personal project to develop a image bank of pathologies and symptoms of the foot with diverse skin tones, which health professional could refer to, to help diagnose all patients.
I was made redundant while 8 months pregnant and three months prior to the first wave of the pandemic hitting. All the plans I had went out the window and there was no clear path for me to follow. I decided to return to study as a mature student. While my first choice and local university took months and months to offer me an interview for radiography, I decided to rethink my project. After a many deliberations, I eventually chose Podiatry. It was a longer commute, making things more difficult, especially with a young baby. I honestly wasn’t sure what I would be like touching people’s feet all day. However, I decided this was the best choice for my family. Podiatry is one of the few NHS roles which does not involve evenings, weekends, or bank holiday shifts, this was a clear winner in my eyes.
Fast forward a year later, I was living my best life as a podiatry student and loving the course. placement I was then selected to be one of the Council of Deans, 150Leaders and attended the opening conference in September 2022. In that residential event, I really felt I was part of something bigger than myself. I was being given skills and communication styles that would shape and mould the direction I could continue throughout my student and professional career. The talks were engaging and empowering. I left the residential really motivated to make something happen. Being in a room full of likeminded, highly esteemed, and highly motivated people was so humbling. I was the only podiatry student present, so I had real value to input from my differing experience.
I had the privilege of being paired for coaching with the acting CEO and Clinical Director of the Royal College of Podiatry, which meant that any project I decided to take on had the possibility of making an impact. Being a student parent and having to go on placement takes a lot of planning and support from those around you. However, I was motivated to show my coach what I might be capable of, with a potential to work for the college in the future.
It was another setback that gave me my 150Leaders project idea. As a woman of colour, I wanted to do a placement in a very diverse area like London, so that in the future I could go back to my local community to help patients with diverse skin tones. Unfortunately, all my hopes to do a placement in London rather than the southwest of England didn’t happen due to staff shortages in these areas. Disappointed is an understatement for how I felt, but this set back, made me think bigger. How do podiatrists diagnose patients with differing skin types? How confident do people feel when looking for the classic symptoms of ‘redness, cyanosis’ on darker skin? It was silly for me to think that educating myself on what these pathologies and symptoms looks like would help anyone but myself. What I really needed to do was to try and take everyone on this journey with me.
The aim of my project is to create an online image bank of pathologies and symptoms of the foot for diverse skin tones which podiatrists and other health professionals can refer to. It would more accurately help diagnose all patients encountered in practice, and better represent the world we live in. The concept and the idea are big but also could have a huge impact on the accuracy of correct diagnosis within podiatry for people of colour. I have amazing support from my coach and university faculty who are helping to answer my many questions and read through the work I am creating.
My initial aim is to outline a full framework of the project so that it can be launched. This includes securing funding, marketing, designing web pages and outlining staff required to manage the site for the future. This initial aim does not tie me to staying with the project till completion as university and personal life may not allow me to do so. I have been realistic with what I can achieve within the leadership’s timelines. However, my personal aim and long-term hope is to stay within the mix of this project and help get it off the starting line and hopefully see it expand. I hope my project to foster partnerships with universities and institutes around the world, widening our image portfolio, and becoming a go to for podiatry pathology images globally.
Without the opportunity to participate on the 150 Leaders programme I would not be on this remarkable journey. I have the extraordinary opportunity to make an enormous impactful contribution towards a health profession I truly love and I am so grateful. Without the leadership programme I may never have tapped into the skill sets and learning I am encountering on bringing this project to fruition.
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