The candidate card
Setting
Home visit
Candidate
You are a community podiatrist visiting an 81-year-old man with type 2 diabetes and peripheral neuropathy. The 81-year-old man reports that his feet always feel cold. His 49-year-old son and carer, Mr Tafadzwa Chahine, prepares hot foot soaks for him every evening. Today you found a blister on the top and side of the patient's left foot that appears to be a superficial partial-thickness burn; you have assessed its depth, extent and the circulation in the foot, dressed it, and found no signs of infection. You have obtained same-day advice from the burns service, who will guide further dressings and review, and involved the high-risk diabetic foot service; the patient is resting in the next room.
Task (interlocutor: carer)
- Find out how Mr Chahine cares for his father's feet, including the evening soaks (how hot, how long, how he checks the water)
- Explain why reduced feeling in the feet makes heat dangerous and how the blister probably happened
- Reassure Mr Chahine that he is not being blamed, and respond to his belief that the soaks help circulation
- Advise on safer ways to keep the feet warm and on daily foot checks (what to look for, when to seek help)
- Agree a plan for caring for the burn in line with the specialist advice and arrange follow-up
In the test you get 3 minutes to read the card and plan, then about 5 minutes to talk. This card is original, written for this site; the interlocutor's card is not shown.
How to approach this card
- Begin with open questions about how he looks after his father's feet and the soaks: how hot, how long, how he checks the water. He is likely trying to help, so show interest before you correct.
- Explain the mechanism simply: his father cannot feel heat properly, so the skin can be burned without him complaining. Then link this to the blister you found, saying it probably happened that way.
- Address blame before giving advice. State that he was trying to help. Then respond to the belief that soaks help circulation by acknowledging the aim and giving a safer way to reach it.
- Give safer warmth options and a short daily foot check routine, and say what to look for. Keep warning signs as one clear, complete list from your service, with who to call.
- Explain that the burns service has advised on dressings and review and the diabetic foot service is involved. Close by agreeing who does what, and the follow-up, in line with their advice.
Phrases to adapt
Use your own words; these show the register, not lines to memorise.
- You have clearly been looking after your father carefully.
- Your father may not feel heat the way you or I would.
- I understand you wanted to help his circulation.
- Can we go through what to check each day?
Medical words in plain English
| Term | How you might say it to the patient |
|---|---|
| Peripheral neuropathy | Nerve damage that dulls feeling in the feet, including heat and pain. |
| Partial-thickness burn | A burn that has damaged the top layers of skin but not all the way through. |
| Circulation | Blood flow to the feet, which carries warmth and healing. |
How this card is marked
Two assessors mark the recording on nine criteria: intelligibility, fluency, appropriateness of language and resources of grammar and expression (each 0–6), then relationship building, understanding and incorporating the patient's perspective, providing structure, information gathering and information giving (each 0–3). Grade B usually means 5 on each language criterion and 2 on each clinical one. See the AI Speaking practice guide for what each criterion looks for.
More Podiatry role-play cards
- Plantar heel pain – marathon in 3 weeks Podiatry clinic
- Plantar ulcer – reluctance to wear an offloading boot Podiatry clinic (community high-risk foot service)
- Ingrown toenail – partial nail avulsion for a teenager Podiatry clinic
All sets: nurses, doctors, other professions. Your profession's guide: OET Podiatry.
Questions about this role-play
Why do his feet feel cold if the skin burned?
Cold feelings and damaged feeling can go together in neuropathy. Do not explain the cause too firmly. Say that feeling in his feet is unreliable, so neither cold nor heat can be trusted as a guide to what is happening.
How do I tell him not to use soaks without sounding critical?
Say clearly that you are not blaming him and that anyone could have made this mistake. Then explain that the soaks are the risk because his father cannot feel the heat, and offer safer ways to keep the feet warm.
What if he asks for the dressing instructions?
Say you will follow the burns service advice and make sure he knows exactly what to do and when the next review is. Do not invent details beyond what the specialists advised; agree the plan and check he can repeat it.
Sources
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