Resumen

SUAREZ PEREZ, Rolando; GARCIA GONZALEZ, Rosario; ALVAREZ, Ramón  y  EDREIRA, José. Knowledge, abilities and behaviours in foot care in a group of diabetic amputees. Rev Cubana Endocrinol [online]. 2001, vol.12, n.2. ISSN 1561-2953.

It is known that foot care, one of the biggest challenges for diabetic persons care, is not adequately approached in regular appointments and that is why the function of preventing the occurrence of complications in lower limbs and its top manifestation, that is, amputation, is lost. To address this problem, the present paper was aimed at determining the information and practical orientations received by a group of diabetic patients suffering from amputation at the time of the study. One hundred and five diabetics admitted to the Angiology wards of two general hospitals were interviewed. This survey was aimed at gathering information that allows us to characterize the present process of amputation and determine those pieces of information and practical orientations that these persons have received. 62.5% of the group did not check their feet systematically whereas 42.4% did not consider some home practices like callosity shaving, nail cutting,etc. as dangerous. Only 29.5% of them was able to identify one or two practical foot care procedures. It was confirmed that these persons had not received an adequate practical information in this regard and that in the 52.4 % the onset of the present foot complication was due to carelessness, behavioural mistakes or being unfamiliar with the practical procedures. It was concluded that educational intervention could have substantially contributed to the reduction of amputations

Palabras clave : HEALTH EDUCATION; PATIENT EDUCATION; AMPUTEES [education]; DIABETES MELLITUS [therapy]; DIABETES MELLITUS [education]; DIABETES MELLITUS [complications]; FOOT DIABETIC [prevention & control].

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