Practice Guideline for the Preventing and Caring of Foot Ulcer and Lower Limb Amputation in Diabetic Patients

Abstract

The practice guideline for preventing and caring of foot ulcer and lower limb amputation in diabetic patients can be divided into 2 categories: 1) the practice guideline to prevent foot ulcer for patients who have no foot ulcer. This guideline comprises foot examination, assessment of foot ulcer, differentiation of risk categories, and preventing foot ulcer in each risk category. 2) the practice guideline to treat foot ulcer and prevent lower limb amputation for patients who have foot ulcer. The guideline for this category includes classification of foot ulcer severity, and assessment of foot ulcer risky to lower limb amputation, and prevention of lower limb amputation in each level of foot ulcer severity. These practice guidelines are useful especially for nurse practitioners who take responsibility in primary care service for effectively caring of foot ulcer and preventing lower limb amputation in diabetic patients.