Nursing care of diabetic foot based on nanosilver antibacterial dressings

Abstract

To investigate the control and prevention of diabetic foot infection with nano-silver antibacterial dressings and the difficulty of nursing. Sixty patients with diabetic foot, treated at our hospital between January 2017 to January 2018, were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups (n = 30 per group). Blood glucose was strictly controlled in both groups. After debridement, the ulcerated feet of the intervention and control groups were wrapped with nanosilver antibacterial and Vaseline dressings, respectively. The degree of pain and the severity and areas of ulcers were evaluated at the time of admission and after four weeks of treatment. The time required for ulcers to heal was assessed and the number of dressing changes were counted. The two groups were compared in terms of ease of care. Although treatment improved the Wagner grade in both groups, the improvement was significantly better in the intervention group than in the control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, treatment reduced ulcerated areas in both groups, with significantly smaller ulcerated areas in the intervention group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The intervention group had significantly lower visual analog scores (VAS) than the control group (P < 0.05), although treatment lowered VAS in both groups. Ulcers healed significantly sooner and dressings were changed less frequently in the intervention group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The nursing difficulty of the intervention group was significantly lower than that of the control group. Nanosilver antibacterial dressings can promote healing, reduce ulcerated areas, improve Wagner classification, and reduce the frequency of dressing changes in patients with diabetic foot ulcers. At the same time, the use of nano-silver can reduce the difficulty of patient care.