09/22/2023    Jared Clifford, DPM

WA Nurse to Provide Podiatry Services at Prosser Orthopedic Center

I have some context to provide for the "WA nurse
to provide podiatry services" news item. I have
been at Prosser Memorial Hospital for the past 16
years as the only podiatrist. We are a small
critical access hospital in a town of 6,000, but
we see patients from several surrounding
communities. The next nearest podiatrists are 45
miles to the west and 30 miles to the east.

Over the past couple of years I have gotten much
busier. The hospital and I have been looking for
a solution to maintain a manageable patient load,
but also serve the demands of the community
without making patients wait too long to see me.
While I am very busy, we're not quite busy enough
to support another podiatrist.

We have a general surgeon in my clinic who has
been having a nurse practitioner help him in his
practice for the past couple of years, and it has
been a very positive arrangement. The two of them
also manage the hospital's wound clinic, and they
recently hired a newly graduated nurse
practitioner to help out there. The general
surgeon's ARNP saw potential in the new ARNP, and
recommended that we consider having her work with
me to see if she might help ease my clinic load.

So over the past few weeks, she has been working
with me, helping to see post op patients, bandage
changes, diabetic wound follow ups, routine ankle
sprain follow ups, and other things that I can
delegate. She is not doing nail care,
biomechanical exams, orthotics, new foot pain
workups, or anything like that. So far it seems to
be working well, allowing me to see new patients
and do surgeries in a timely manner. Who knows
what the future holds, maybe we'll get to the
point where we need another part- or full-time
podiatrist.

Jared Clifford, DPM, Prosser, WA

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