Citation: Diabetic Medicine. 2013, 30, 192
Author: Lyons C.; Raza F.; Harris G.; Leong K.S.
Abstract: Aim: It was suspected that inpatient referral rates for diabetes foot ulcers were low and an action plan was implemented following a baseline audit. The aim was to demonstrate the impact of this plan on referral rates. Methods: All inpatients with diabetes were audited on a randomly selected date in March 2012. All patients with diabetes had their feet checked for ulceration. Those with ulceration had the following details recorded: type of and duration of ulcer and if a referral to the diabetes podiatrist or other members of the multidisciplinary team had been made. From this initial baseline audit, the following were implemented: raising awareness of ward nursing staff for diabetes foot ulcers and when to refer, establishing a virtual multidisciplinary team to assist in rapid communication between team members and increasing podiatry inpatient capacity to cope with anticipated increase in demand and reduce the time to podiatry intervention. The audit was repeated in September 2012. Results: The initial audit (March 2012) identified 97 inpatients with diabetes: six (6.1%) had foot ulcers and only one (16.6%) had been referred to podiatry and the diabetes team. In September 2012, there were 126 inpatients with diabetes; 12 (9.5%) had foot ulcers, and patients referred to podiatry had increased significantly (p = 0.043, analysed by Fisher's exact test) to nine (75%). Conclusions: Simple measures to increase awareness on the ward and improve communications
amongst key team members were successful in increasing the number of patients with diabetes foot ulcers referred to podiatry.
