Competency Framework for Podiatric Medicine Training in Canada: An Adapted Delphi Study

Podiatrists are generally defined as professionals with high-level skills in the prevention and management of local foot conditions that are not systemic diseases. Across countries, different academic trainings are implemented due to the specific context and practice of podiatric medicine. It is thus essential to support country-specific podiatry education for the development of highly skilled podiatrists. Therefore, we report the development of a podiatric medicine competency framework to support training in Canada.

A Delphi process was conducted by 12 stakeholders (including 8 podiatry experts) from the University of Québec at Trois-Rivières which is the only university offering the degree of Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) in Canada. The developed framework is (1) based on the seven key roles of the Canadian medical education directives of specialists (CanMEDs) and, (2) closely aligned with the requirement of the College of Podiatrists of Québec which sets the standards of entry to practice in Québec.

The developed framework represents the state of the development process and the consensus of the podiatry experts. It reflects the expected profile of the institution's DPM graduates based on seven key roles (podiatry expert, communicator, collaborator, health advocate, leader and manager, scholar, and professional). This developed framework is an arborescence of complex skills defined in tangible indicators that characterize each expected part of a core competency. Twenty-four core competencies have been determined and divided into 84 enabling competencies and 288 observable indicators.

This competency framework has been designed to support high-quality education and to develop podiatry. Next steps include: (1) validation of this framework by external experts, (2) development of rigorous evaluation methods and, (3) concrete actions for its implementation and assessment. This framework would help to define the scope of practice and capabilities of podiatric medicine, both in Canada and internationally.