The foot therapist is often the one who sees the change first – a small wound, an altered sensation, a red point. If the observation is to mean anything for the patient, it must also reach the medical record.

You sit close to the patient, literally. Where other practitioners see the foot a couple of times a year, you see it regularly – and you recognize what has changed since last time. For a diabetes patient, what you discover can be crucial: an incipient pressure ulcer, reduced sensitivity, an infection in the making. The foot therapist is often the earliest link in a chain that can end up preventing a serious complication.

However, for the observation to have value beyond the single visit, it must be documented and able to follow the patient further. As authorized healthcare personnel, the podiatrist has a duty to keep medical records just like other groups – and in an interdisciplinary pathway, your note is not just an internal working document, but a message to everyone else following the same patient.

An authorized profession with a genuine duty to document

A foot care therapist is one of the authorized healthcare professional groups under the Health Personnel Act. The authorization entails the same fundamental duties as for others: the requirement for responsible operations and the duty to maintain medical records containing the information necessary and relevant for the healthcare provided. The medical record must make it possible for others to understand what you have observed and done.

For foot therapists working with at-risk feet, this is more than a formality. National clinical guidelines for diabetes emphasize systematic foot examinations and risk assessments precisely because early detection and proper follow-up can prevent amputations. The quality of that prevention is linked to the quality of the documentation: an observation that is not clearly written down is difficult for the next link in the chain to act upon.

Nevertheless, foot therapists are one of the groups that are rarely mentioned when the healthcare system is digitized. We have written about precisely this – about the forgotten professions in health digitalization – and the foot therapist belongs in that conversation.

When hands are busy and the note awaits

The foot care therapist's work is practical. The hands are in use, the gaze is fixed on the foot, and there is rarely a natural pause where you can sit down and write comprehensively. The result is often that the note is either shortened to a minimum or postponed until after the workday – with the risk that entails of details disappearing. It is the same mechanism that affects many manual and practical professions – something manual therapists are well aware from their own daily documentation routine.

The challenge is not the willingness to document. It is that the very way of working makes it difficult to write while you are treating.

Medivox as part of the solution

This is where speech-to-text can make a difference. Medivox listens while you work, delivering a structured draft of the notes afterward. You can dictate out loud what you see and do—the condition of the foot, findings, interventions, what the patient should monitor—and let the draft build from what you say while your hands are busy with the treatment. This way, you get the observation documented while it is fresh, without interrupting your work.

Because foot therapy has its own structure, you build your own templates in Medivox – for example, one for routine foot care and one for the examination of the at-risk foot – so that the draft is filled in the way you want it. The tool documents; it does not make the professional assessment for you. You own the medical record and make the final assessment.

Privacy is built-in: directly identifiable information is pseudonymized before the data is further processed, and all data processing takes place in Norwegian data centers. This applies regardless of whether you run your own practice or are part of a larger multidisciplinary team.

One perspective: whoever sees it first should be heard

In a healthcare system built around the doctor and the hospital, it is easy to overlook the joints that meet the patient most often. But in diabetes care, the podiatrist can be the one who catches the warning sign before anyone else. For that observation to benefit the patient, it must be documented well enough to trigger action from the others in the care pathway. Good documentation is therefore not just a duty for the podiatrist – it is the way that important, early detection actually makes a difference. When writing becomes easier, it becomes easier to let what you see matter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are foot therapists subject to a duty to keep medical records?
Yes. A foot therapist is an authorized healthcare professional group, and with that comes the obligation to keep records containing what is necessary and relevant for the healthcare provided.

Does speech-to-text work when your hands are busy with treatment?
Yes – that is one of the strengths. You can describe out loud what you see and do, and get a structured draft afterwards, without having to type along the way.

Can the insoles be customized specifically for chiropody?
Yes. You build your own templates, for example for routine care and for risk foot examination, and choose the one that fits.

Is patient data handled securely?
Directly identifiable information is pseudonymized before further processing, and all data processing takes place in Norwegian data centers. You decide what is stored.

Does the tool help in the interdisciplinary follow-up of diabetes patients?
A clear, structured note makes it easier for others involved in the care pathway to understand and act on what you have observed. The professional assessment remains yours.

Use Medivox for free – Get started completely free

Do you work with feet that require close follow-up and want to see how a draft takes shape while your hands are busy? Contact us – then we will show you how Medivox fits into the podiatrist's everyday work.

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