Nursing interventions for the prevention of foot ulcers in elderly diabetic patients

Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the severe consequences of diabetes. Diabetic foot lesions frequently result from a patient simultaneously having two or more risk factors, with diabetic peripheral neuropathy playing a central role. In elderly diabetic patients, foot ulcer is a major cause of hospitalization. The purpose of this thesis is to describe the nursing interventions used in the prevention of foot ulcer in elderly diabetic patients. The research question was what the nursing interventions are used in the prevention of foot ulcers in elderly diabetic patients. The search for data was conducted in January 2018. An inductive qualitative analysis was chosen to acquire updated facts and accurate data leading to a better understanding of previous and existing studies. 3 academic databases were searched. These are Cumulative index of Nursing CINHAL(EBSCO), PubMed, Science direct. A total number of 6 articles produced in the years 2012-2017 were selected. The method used in this thesis is a literature review with an inductive qualitative analysis. Five main categories in the prevention of foot ulcer in diabetic elderly patients were derived from the data analyzed. These include; glycemic control, insulin therapy, patient education, appropriate footwear, identification of diabetic foot. In a nutshell, nurses’ role in prevention of DFU can never be over emphasized. Elderly patients tend to need more education and guidance on prevention measures. Prevention methods are effective with this age group when the nurses work with the patients by corresponding to their individual needs. Since only few academic databases were used in data collection, a future study could be conducted to study the impact of age on the presentation of DFU. Future studies could attempt to discuss diabetic foot disease with an emphasis on the specificities of the disease in elderly patients