Health Education Program to Prevent Foot Complications among Diabetic Patients: A case study of Soba and Ribat Diabetes Health Centers, Khartoum State, Sudan (2010 - 2013)
احمد محمد مكين, سميرة حميد عبدالرحمن, لبنى حسن عثمان على
كلية الطب-جامعة الجزيرة · السودان
Diabetic foot ulcerations are serious and costly diabetes-related complications. Prevention of this ulceration should be the primary goal for all involved in diabetic foot care, proper management and careful foot care helps in prevention of foot ulcers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a health education program to prevent foot complications among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. It was conducted during the period (July2010- July 2013), in two of the major diabetic clinics in Khartoum state – Sudan, namely, Soba diabetic clinic and Ribat diabetic clinic. The study included two groups: an (intervention) group, consisting of one hundred of type 2 diabetic patients, and age/gender matched control (non-intervention) group of one hundred of type 2 diabetic patients. Both groups were selected randomly from the above-mentioned diabetic clinics. A diabetic foot care program was implemented during the study period. The goal of the program was to prevent diabetes related to foot complications and was based on the implementation of basic foot care elements to prevent diabetic foot complications. Two hundred Patients were involved, and assessed about their knowledge, practice and attitude on their feet care by two tools; a structural interview questionnaire sheet and observational check list sheet. According to the assessment result, an educational foot care training program was developed. Results showed that, measured awareness of foot care was very poor among diabetic patients and this was found to be due to a lack of patients’ education by health care providers. The knowledge and practice of intervention group regarding foot care were improved significantly after education program. There was a significant finding regarding education about foot examination, before education only 65% of the participants perform feet examination. However, after education this percentage was raised to 99%. Also, 31% of the participants wore good feet wear style, and after education the percentage reached 100%.The study recommended that diabetic foot education program should be conducted in different health centers for diabetic patients, and available resources should be directed and oriented for suitable medical foot wear.