Podiatry as a career in the UK - what attracts Generation Z? A qualitative exploration with university and college students

Background

Training for a career in podiatry is reported to provide graduates with excellent employability, alongside professional autonomy and suitable renumeration. Yet, there has been an ongoing decline in the number of those applying to study the subject. There is limited literature associated with this topic and we sought to explore the factors that attract ‘generation Z’ (those born 1995–2010) to a potential career in podiatry.

Method

A qualitative design framework underpinned by phenomenological principles used four focus groups over a two-year period to generate data from participants at University and in Further Education. Focus group conversations were led by external facilitator, recorded, independently transcribed verbatim and anonymised prior to thematic analysis. This was followed by external, independent verification of themes.

Results

Four main themes were determined from the analysis i) a lack of awareness of podiatry; ii) podiatry: accessible course, accessible career; iii) career status; iv) breadth/opportunity of the scope of practice. Both positive and negative experiences were reported and highlighted key gaps in how the attractiveness of a career in podiatry is portrayed.

Conclusion

The chronic lack of awareness of podiatry as a career clearly needs to be addressed, ideally with more positive role modelling in mainstream and popular media. The career status offered together with the breadth of, and opportunity associated with, the scope of practice should continue to be celebrated.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13047-021-00470-y.

Doxycycline compared with prednisolone therapy for patients with bullous pemphigoid: cost-effectiveness analysis of the BLISTER trial

BACKGROUND

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering skin disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Doxycycline and prednisolone to treat bullous pemphigoid were compared within a randomized controlled trial (RCT).

OBJECTIVES

To compare the cost-effectiveness of doxycycline-initiated and prednisolone-initiated treatment for patients with BP.

METHODS

Quality-of-life (EuroQoL-5D-3L) and resource data were collected as part of the BLISTER trial: a multicentre, parallel-group, investigator-blinded RCT. Within-trial analysis was performed using bivariate regression of costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), with multiple imputation of missing data, informing a probabilistic assessment of incremental treatment cost-effectiveness from a health service perspective.

RESULTS

In the base case, there was no robust difference in costs or QALYs per patient at 1 year comparing doxycycline- with prednisolone-initiated therapy [net cost £959, 95% confidence interval (CI) -£24 to £1941; net QALYs -0·024, 95% CI -0·088 to 0·041]. However, the findings varied by baseline blister severity. For patients with mild or moderate blistering (≤ 30 blisters) net costs and outcomes were similar. For patients with severe blistering (> 30 blisters) net costs were higher (£2558, 95% CI -£82 to £5198) and quality of life poorer (-0·090 QALYs, 95% CI -0·22 to 0·042) for patients starting on doxycycline. The probability that doxycycline would be cost-effective for those with severe pemphigoid was 1·5% at a willingness to pay of £20 000 per QALY.

CONCLUSIONS

Consistently with the clinical findings of the BLISTER trial, patients with mild or moderate blistering should receive treatment guided by the safety and effectiveness of the drugs and patient preference - neither strategy is clearly a preferred use of National Health Service resources. However, prednisolone-initiated treatment may be more cost-effective for patients with severe blistering.

A randomized controlled trial to compare the safety and effectiveness of doxycycline (200 mg daily) with oral prednisolone (0.5 mg kg(-1) daily) for initial treatment of bullous pemphigoid: a protocol for the Bullous Pemphigoid Steroids and Tetracyclines (BLISTER) Trial

BACKGROUND

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is the most common autoimmune blistering disease in older people, and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Oral corticosteroids are usually effective but the side-effects are thought to contribute to the high morbidity and mortality rate. Treatment with oral tetracyclines may be effective but high-quality, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are needed to confirm this.

OBJECTIVES

To compare the effectiveness and safety of two strategies for treating BP.

METHODS

This is a two-arm, parallel group, 52-week RCT comparing doxycycline with prednisolone for initial treatment of BP. Dose is fixed for the initial 6 weeks of treatment (doxycycline 200 mg daily; prednisolone 0.5 mg kg(-1) daily), after which it can be adjusted according to need. A total of 256 patients with BP will be recruited in the U.K. and Germany.

RESULTS

The primary outcomes are: (i) effectiveness (assessor-blinded blister count at 6 weeks) and (ii) safety [proportion of patients experiencing ≥ grade 3 adverse events (i.e. severe, life: threatening or fatal) related to trial medication during the year of follow-up]. Primary effectiveness analysis will be an assessment of whether doxycycline can be considered noninferior to prednisolone after 6 weeks of treatment. Primary safety analysis is a superiority analysis at 12 months. Secondary outcomes include longer-term assessment of effectiveness, relapse rates, the proportion of patients experiencing any grade of adverse events related to treatment, quality of life and cost-effectiveness.

CONCLUSIONS

The trial will provide good evidence for whether the strategy of starting BP treatment with doxycycline is a useful alternative to prednisolone.