Wound care clinicians deal with foot infections all the time, but when the patient is also diabetic, an infection can progress rapidly to a critical state. In fact, it is estimated that around 56% of diabetic foot ulcers become infected, and an infected foot wound precedes about two-thirds of amputations. Being able to treat diabetic foot infections promptly – before they progress too far – helps prevent amputations, which is why your role is so crucial to a patient’s well-being.
What are the risk factors?
If you are treating a diabetic patient with a foot infection, there are a number of risk factors to consider. These include:
- 30-day-old wounds
- Wounds that go down to the bone
- Recurrent foot infections
- Peripheral vascular disease
- An etiology from trauma
In particular, be on high alert with your diabetic patients for what they call an occult (hidden) infection … read more