Level of Knowledge and Practice of Orthotics in the Diabetic Foot Management in Nigeria
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Orthotists are trained to have the specialist skill and ability to make prescriptions as well as fabricate devices to achieve these offloading goals in the management of the diabetic foot. The IWGDF has been promoting sound guidelines for efficient management (offloading) of the DF and has been updating these from time to time since 1999. These guidelines could also be used as a yardstick to measure the level of knowledge and orthotic practice as well as an appraisal tool of same among group or groups of orthotic practitioners. For an efficient care of the DF, a multidisciplinary teamwork is necessary and can include the following: Diabetologist/Endocrinologist, Surgeons, specialized Nurse, Podiatrist, Orthotist (Pedortist), Physiotherapist, etc.
The cross-sectional descriptive research design was adopted for the present study in describing the level of Knowledge and practise of orthotic-conservative management of DF/DFU in Nigeria. Participants included Orthotists working in Nigerian healthcare institutions whether or not they are engaged in the conservative/offloading management of DF/DFUs.
Out of 50 questionnaire mailed out, 30 responses were obtained. More than 70% of the responding Orthotists were working in centres without a Diabetic Foot Management Team (DFMT). Only 7% of the Orthotists were well-informed of their role as spelt out in the IWGDF Guidelines. 33% were not aware of the guideline but know to an extent the orthotic roles in the DF management while 60% were not. There was no implementation of the digital technologies in the processes of diabetic foot management. Analysis showed that knowledge and awareness of the offloading guidelines was an important factor influencing the practice.
Having diabetic foot management teams in our health institutions is important to the enhancement of the skill, knowledge and success of the management of the diabetic foot. Utilization of digital technologies in the healthcare sector including orthotics could help Orthotist in Nigeria to improve the success of their offloading practices as well as generate researches in this area.
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