Exam by body system

How to do a diabetic foot exam

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Foot ulcers in diabetes start with lost feeling and poor blood flow. A yearly foot exam finds both early.

What you need

Step by step

  1. Prepare

    Introduce yourself, get consent, remove shoes and socks from both feet. [1]

  2. Ask

    Numbness, burning, pain, past ulcers or amputations, and how they check their feet. [1]

  3. Look

    Skin, between the toes, calluses, cracks, ulcers, nails, shape changes (hammer toes, collapsed arch) and the shoes. [2]

  4. Pulses

    Dorsalis pedis and posterior tibial on both feet. [2]

  5. Monofilament

    Eyes closed. Press the filament straight until it bends, for 1 to 2 seconds, at several sites on the sole, not on calluses. Ask "yes" when felt. [1]

  6. Vibration

    128 Hz tuning fork on the top of the big toe joint; ask when the buzzing stops. [1]

  7. Teach

    Look at the feet every day, never walk barefoot, check shoes before putting them on, and report any sore right away. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in VMS

In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

VMS cases that train this skill

61 VMS cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint
  2. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts and steps also follow NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint. VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.