Abstract:

Diabetic foot ulcers have led to countless amputations and reduced quality of life among individuals living with diabetes. Specialized diabetic foot care has been shown to reduce the risk of foot ulcers and amputation among diabetics. The study assessed the knowledge of diabetic foot care among 100 nurses in the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and the Rivers State Hospitals Management Board Hospitals (which include General Hospitals from all the local government areas) in Rivers State, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire containing questions on different aspects of diabetic foot care was interviewer-administered to the nurses and scored accordingly. The results showed that only 34 (34%) had training on diabetic foot care; and most of the nurses who had training had more than 20 years of experience. It was observed that the knowledge of diabetic foot care was significantly higher among nurses with more than 10 years of experience (p = 0.0046). Nurses with less than 10 years of experience had a significantly poor knowledge of diabetic foot care. Knowledge of footwear assessment and assessing the patient’s capacity for self-care was found to be significantly lower among nurses who had no training on diabetes foot care (p = 0.0001). The study shows the urgent need for frequently organized training on diabetic foot care for nursing practitioners to improve the quality of diabetes care in Rivers state, Nigeria.

Keywords: Diabetes, Diabetic Foot, Diabetes Foot Care, Nursing Practitioners.

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