🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track personal progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Read each square. Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) course.
What PAD Actually Is
Narrowed leg arteries. Causes cramping with walking (claudication). Same disease as CAD elsewhere.
Learn ItMedication Stack
Statin · antiplatelet · BP control. Same regimen reduces MI/stroke too.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Sudden cold pale painful leg · non-healing wound · rest pain at night.
Learn ItTriggers
Smoking is the #1 PAD accelerator. Diabetes, BP, cholesterol matter too.
Learn ItKnow Your ABI
Ankle-brachial index. Trended over time. Defines severity.
Learn ItAntiplatelet + Statin
Daily, both prevent acute events and slow progression.
Live ItFoot Inspection
Daily foot checks. Small wounds can become big problems.
Live ItSupervised Walking
Counter-intuitive: walking through claudication actually improves distance over months.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring walking distance log, foot photos if you have wounds.
Live ItYour Care Team
Vascular surgeon + PCP + podiatrist + sometimes endocrinology.
Live ItTelehealth
Med management telehealth; foot checks in-person.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Supervised exercise is increasingly covered. Procedures vary.
Live ItRevascularization
Angioplasty, stent, or bypass when symptoms or limb-threatened.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Smoking cessation success stories are gold. Share yours.
Share ItAdvocate
Diabetic foot screening saves limbs. Spread the word.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Newer antiplatelets (vorapaxar, rivaroxaban low-dose), wound therapies.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
This is the teaching. Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
PAD lives at a stable baseline. The ladder watches for changes that could be acute limb ischemia.
Handle at home
- Usual claudication distance unchanged
- Following walking program
- Mild skin changes at baseline
Log it. Walk daily — it improves your walking distance over time.
Call the office / message the portal
- Claudication coming on at shorter distances
- Running low on antiplatelet or statin
- Slow-healing minor wound on foot
- Cold feeling in one foot at night
Same day. Walking distance changes are real signal.
Urgent / Acute care
- Rest pain — foot or leg pain that comes on at night
- Non-healing ulcer on foot or toe
- Skin color change — pale or dusky
- Numbness new
Urgent care. Rest pain means critical ischemia.
ER NOW / call 911
- Sudden cold, pale, painful leg (acute limb ischemia)
- Leg goes numb suddenly
- Black spots on toes or foot with severe pain
- Chest pain or stroke signs (PAD = vascular everywhere)
Call 911. Acute limb ischemia is a save-the-leg emergency — minutes count.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
Six questions clinicians listen for every time.
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Right calf cramping at 1 block instead of my usual 3 blocks, a 7 worst when walking uphill, started 2 weeks ago, rest in 2-3 minutes brings it down, and my left toe has a small wound that’s not healing.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD):
- “What’s my ankle-brachial index — and how is it trending?”
- “Am I a candidate for revascularization — angioplasty, stent, or bypass?”
- “Am I on the right antiplatelet and statin for PAD?”
- “What’s my supervised exercise/walking plan look like?”
- “Should I see a podiatrist for foot care?”