People living with diabetes are unaware of their foot risk status or why they are referred to a multidisciplinary foot team

Abstract

Aim: People with active diabetic foot disease should be rapidly referred by health professionals along a pathway of care to a multidisciplinary foot team. The aim was to investigate patients' self-reported understanding of their foot risk status and reasons for their referral to a multidisciplinary foot team. Method: This seven-month service evaluation included consecutive newly referred patients. Participants completed a questionnaire which asked firstly about their understanding of their foot risk status, secondly about their pathway of care before presentation to the multidisciplinary foot team, and thirdly about their interest in diabetes-related foot education and preferred learning style. Results: There were 202 participants; 65% were male, mean age was 64±15 years (mean±standard deviation (SD)), 86% had type 2 diabetes, and mean HbA1c was 65±23mmol/mol (8.3±3.7%). Only 4% of participants knew their current foot risk status and 52% did not know why their care had been escalated to a multidisciplinary foot clinic. Participants with type 2 diabetes more readily expressed an interest in further foot education compared with participants with type 1 diabetes, (70% versus 29%, p=0.001). Conclusions: These findings show that people with diabetes and foot disease are less aware of their foot risk status or why they are referred to a multidisciplinary team. Participants indicated a variable interest in further learning about foot complications. These findings indicate possible communication and educational barriers between patients and health professionals which may contribute to delayed presentation or suboptimal engagement.