Awareness and practices of foot self-care in patients with diabetes at Dr Yusuf Dadoo district hospital, Johannesburg

Objectives: To determine awareness and foot self-care practices in patients with diabetes.Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study.Setting and subjects: This study was conducted on 120 consecutive patients with diabetes at the outpatient department of Dr Yusuf Dadoo district hospital, Krugersdorp, Johannesburg. A researcher-administered questionnaire, adapted from the Summary of Diabetic Self-Care Activities, collected information on participants’ demographics, clinical co-morbidities, awareness and foot self-care practices. The researcher also conducted a foot examination to identify foot pathologies. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, chi-square and t-tests, and logistic regression.Outcome measures: Patients’ awareness of, and practices pertaining to, foot self-care.Results: Of the 120 participants, the majority were blacks (59.2%), female (60%) and unemployed (68.3%). The mean age was 56.3 years. Athlete’s foot was the most common foot problem that occurred in 16.2% of participants. While only 24.2% reported awareness of foot self-care, 71.7% had performed foot self-care sometimes in the past, and 69.2% had done so at least one day within the last week. Only 5.8% of participants had had their feet examined by a podiatrist, and 32.5% by a doctor or nurse. Approximately 46.7% regularly soaked their feet in water, 7.5% applied talcum powder to dry their feet, 54.2% inspected their shoes and 25% walked barefoot. Smoking was the only variable that was significantly associated with finding a foot ulcer.Conclusion: Poor participants’ awareness and foot self-care practices highlight critical gaps in the care provided to patients with diabetes. Interventions which empower patients and healthcare professionals to regularly perform foot examinations and foot self-care are required to improve diabetic foot care in South Africa.Keywords: diabetes, awareness, foot, self-care, practice

The awareness and performance of appropriate foot self-care practices among diabetic patients attending Dr. Yusuf Dadoo Hospital, Gauteng Province, South Africa.

Introduction Diabetes (especially type 2) is a common and growing health problem with significant mortality and morbidity including foot problems (neuropathy, ulceration, infection and amputation) These micro vascular/macro vascular complications can be decreased with certain treatments including good diabetic foot self-care. With this in mind, I set out to measure self-reported knowledge/awareness and performance of appropriate foot self-care among diabetic patients attending Dr. Yusuf Dadoo Hospital-a level one urban hospital. My premise which was borne by my result was that foot self-care and awareness thereof was poor among sampled diabetic patients. This can be attributed to both scant education and infrequent foot examination by clinicians and poor adherence to appropriate foot care by majority of the patients surveyed. Objectives: To determine the awareness and performance of appropriate foot self-care practices among diabetic patients attending the out-patient unit of Dr. Yusuf Dadoo Hospital. Study design and methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study. Participants were consecutively recruited until the sample size of 120 was reached. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Data was analysed using STATA version 10.0. Main outcome measures: foot self-care practices, the level of awareness of foot self-care and foot abnormalities found in diabetics Results: There were more females (60%) than males (40%) and the mean age was 56.3 years. About 30.8% of patients had not inspected their feet for one week, while 21.7% had done it poorly. 92.5% did not use talcum powder to dry their feet, 45.8% did not inspect their shoe before wearing and 94.2% did not make use of a podiatrist at all. However, 53.3% did not soak their feet in water and only 25% walked bare foot while 75% did not. Only about 37.5% has had their feet examined by either a doctor or a nurse while 67.5% had not. Hypertension was found to be the commonest co-morbidity occurring in 60% of the patients studied Athlete‟s foot was the most frequently occurring foot problem found in 16.2% of these patients. Conclusion: Majority of the patients had poor awareness and poor foot self-care practices or inadequate foot self-care practices .Appropriate foot care education should be given to diabetic patients by health care professional to enable them carry out adequate foot self-care practices