Foot & Nail Care Education & Clinical

This hybrid foot and nail program will prepare you to offer professional foot and nail care. Learn techniques and skills online over three months then attend a five-day clinical to practice the skills you have learned.

Comprehensive foot care training for nurses

Many times in traditional nursing education, foot and nail care is overlooked or not taught at all. As the need for foot and nail services continues to rise, the demand increases for nurses or care workers with this skillset. This online foot and nail care course along with the in-person clinical will give you the skills to better serve your patients.

Foot and Nail Care Education Online

Work at your own pace over three months to complete the online portion and earn 33 education contact hours.

Topics Include:

• Diabetes Effects on the Feet
• Lower Extremity Assessment
• Nail Care and Debridement
• Lower Extremity Wounds
• Patient Mental Health Assessment
• Self-care, mobility and therapy with Foot and Nail Care
• And more!

Foot and Nail Care Clinical

You will follow up the online education with an in-person clinical that will give you the opportunity to apply your knowledge of foot care to patients. We open this clinic to the Chippewa Valley residents and offer them free appointments to give you valuable opportunities to learn. Our expert instructor is there to help guide you as you are presented with a variety of cases.

Completing this clinical will give you 40 clinical hours that you can apply toward your certification or re-certification requirements. 

This course fulfills a portion of the requirements needed to take the foot care certification exam from either of the following two organizations:

• Wound Ostomy and Continence Nursing Certification Board (WOCNCB)
• American Foot Care Nurse Association (AFCNA) 

Requirements for Participants

Proof of current licensure is required 30 days prior to the start of the program. Participants must be licensed RNs, PAs, PTs, or OTs. LPNs and other clinical staff may be eligible to register if they will be providing foot and nail care under the direct supervision of a registered nurse, or are licensed in a state that includes intermediate-level foot and nail care within their scope of practice. If you are an LPN looking to attend our course, please complete the online course registration and then:

1. Use this template to provide a letter to verify you will be working under a supervising RN or podiatrist.
2. Submit a copy of the supervising provider's current license and your LPN license.

All documents must be submitted via email to ce@uwec.edu after you complete the online course registration.

Who should attend

Nurses, Physician Assistants, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and other healthcare professionals who are looking to earn a foot and nail care certification or expand their knowledge of foot and nail care

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  Tara Beuscher, DNP has been providing and teaching foot care for over 20 years. She was part of the initial Foot and Nail Care Advisory Committee through the Wound Ostomy Continence Certification Board. Dr. Beuscher has experience in many sectors of health care, working in acute, home, hospice, long term, LTAC, assisted living, and ambulatory, with positions as a registered nurse, clinical nurse specialist, nurse practitioner, educator and chief nursing officer.
  
  Dr. Beuscher received her BSN from the University of Iowa, MSN from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, post-masters NP from University of Wisconsin – Madison and DNP from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
  
  Dr. Beuscher currently works in the Podiatry department of Doctors Making House Calls, a multispecialty group practice in North Carolina, primarily serving seniors in Assisted Living facilities. Dr. Beuscher is very active in the Wound, Ostomy Continence Nurses Society, serving as the Lead Nurse Planner.

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  Rose Peterson is a Clinical Nurse Specialist, supporting Nursing Practice in ICU and the Emergency Department at Mayo Clinic Health Care – Franciscan Healthcare in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  She has been an RN at this facility for 45 years. In 2011 she began doing foot care at the La Crosse Warming Center over the winter season, which continued until 2020, when COVID prevented people from going there. She continues to provide foot care for friends who have Diabetes. In 2012 she attended the Foot and Nail Care Education and Clinical program at UW- Eau Claire and became certified that same year, renewing that certification in 2017. She believes it’s powerful and heartwarming to see how foot care can transform a person physically and emotionally.