Preventative foot care in people with diabetes: Quality patient education

Abstract

Foot ulceration and amputation cause extensive burden on individuals and health care systems. One of the reasons for the poor outcome of
foot complications in developing countries is the lack of patient education. Due to the multi-factorial pathology of diabetic foot ulceration, the person with diabetes should receive health education which is tailored to the individual’s risk status, promote self care and address misconceptions. It is therefore recommended that providers of foot care should participate in ongoing professional education development programmes to obtain skills to assist people in adopting positive self-care behaviour.

Keywords: preventative foot care; diabetes; risk stratification: self care