DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i01.011

Pages: 68-73

Diabetes Mellitus is the emerging epidemic causing a major impact on morbidity and mortality of people throughout the world. Diabetes mellitus is associated with many complications of which Diabetic foot is one of the most significant and devastating complications, which is the leading cause of admission, amputation and morbidity & mortality in diabetic patients. Proper foot care will prevent the diabetic foot and the main goals of diabetic foot care involve a combination of preventive strategies, including patient education, involvement, and adherence to physician recommendations, as well as maintaining tight glycemic control and performing routine skin, foot, and nail inspections. Good knowledge and practice regarding diabetic foot care will reduce the risk of diabetic foot complications and ultimately amputation. The present study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge and practice of the diabetic patients on foot care and also to examine the association among knowledge and practice of foot care and adherence to the treatment by the diabetic patients in a facility based setting. A pre tested semi structured interview schedule was used to collect the data and the adherence to medication was assessed using Morisky 4 point adherence scale. A total of 193 patients were enrolled for the study. It was found that the Knowledge and practice of foot care in the majority of diabetic patients were moderate (52.3% and 56.5 % respectively). Majority (63.7%) of the participants showed high level of adherence to diabetic medications. There was a positive correlation found between the knowledge and practice levels of foot care (r- 0.355; p<0.05).Hence the Diabetic patients should be given health education about the preventive aspects of foot care which enhances the knowledge level thereby promoting the practice of effective foot care and prevention of diabetic foot .