Disease Knowledge in Patients Attending a Diabetic Foot Clinic

BACKGROUND: Foot-specific patient education is an essential element of a health system diabetic foot program. Foot-specific patient education must be individualized, because of cognitive deficits in individuals with long-standing diabetes. METHODS: Two hundred and two consecutive patients attending diabetic foot specialty clinics were asked to provide demographics and complete a 10-question multiple-choice questionnaire. All attended the clinics because of their high-risk status for the development of diabetic foot infection or ulcers. All received ongoing foot-specific patient education. RESULTS: In spite of this ongoing patient education program, only approximately 80% were able to respond appropriately to simple questions related to the care of their "at-risk" feet. CONCLUSION: This simple quality initiative reinforces the notion that patients with diabetes who are at risk for the development of diabetic foot ulcers should receive ongoing foot-specific patient education. This information needs to be constantly reinforced, as retention drops with time.