Foot self-care: Awareness and practices among diabetic patients at Tanta University hospitals

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a dilemma and a fast-expanding issue. Also, diabetic foot problems are considered significant health issues in adults as a result of its high incidence recently.Methods: A cross sectional study completed at the “Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic” at Internal Medicine Department, Tanta University Hospitals. The study subjects included 370 diabetic patients receiving routine foot care education at the clinic. The tool of the study was a structured questionnaire consisting of the following parts (1) Socio demographic data. (2) diabetic history of the patients. (3) awareness questions and practice questions.Results: More than two thirds of studied patients were from 40 to 60 years. Nearly 51% of them were males and more than half of them (50.8%) were from rural areas. About 20.3% of patients had a good awareness level, and only 9.2% of them had satisfactory practice for foot self-care. Conclusion: Routine patient education about foot self-care was insufficient. So, it is mandatory to incorporate a specific, structured, and periodic foot self-care educational sessions to diabetic outpatient clinics provided by a professionally trained health counsellor, this could improve awareness and practice levels of foot self-care among diabetic patients.