Diyabetik Ayakta Eğitimin Etkisinin Araştırılması: Türkiye’den Bir Müdahale Çalışması

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetic foot wounds are one of the most important causes of long duration hospitalizations regarding diabetic patients. Lower extremity amputation risk is 15 to 40 times higher in diabetics compared to normal population. Methods for preventing diabetic foot wounds are providing good blood glucose regulation, appropriate shoe wearing, foot care, toe-nail care, regular foot examinations and patient education. We aimed to investigate the effects of education level of the patients and the caregivers on the diabetic foot wound. Methods: 67 patients having diabetic foot wound applying to General Surgery, Internal Medicine and Diabetes outpatient clinics of Izmir Tepecik Education and Research Hospital in 2009 and 57 caregiver caring for these patients were analyzed prospectively with a face to face questionnaire for a correlation between education levels of patients and caregivers and Wagner staging of patients’ diabetic foot wounds and foot examination findings. Results: It was found that education levels of patients and caregivers did not affect Wagner staging of the wounds (p=0.167), but patients with regular follow-up and previously educated for diabetic foot wounds had a lower stage of wound (p=0.021). Conclusion: Education level of patients and caregivers was not found to be effective on the stage of the wound, but regular clinical follow-up and patient education had an decreasing effect on the stage of wound. Whatever the patients’ education levels are, educations on diabetic foot care and providing regular follow up of patients at risk for diabetic foot will decrease the rates of extremity amputations.