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Abstract
Diabetic foot ulcers are an underappreciated leading cause of the global burden of disease. A key to reducing this burden is not only healing them, but also preventing their recurrence and prolonging remission.
Key Points
- Diabetic foot ulcers are common, complex and costly and a leading cause of Australia’s morbidity and mortality burdens.
- Reasons for this include the large number of people affected, sinister risk factors causing the ulcers, the complex management required to heal ulcers and high recurrence rates.
- Best-practice healing management and prevention of recurrence necessitates a multidisciplinary approach that considers: metabolic control, assessments of feet, debridement, antibiotics, dressings, offloading pressure, referral to multidisciplinary teams and education (MADADORE).
- Care planning that systematically employs these multidisciplinary management principles minimises time taken for diabetic foot ulcers to heal and maximises time in remission.
