Managing Patients With Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) remain a challenge for clinicians despite decades of study. Clinicians now realize that healing strategies should focus on the patient as well as the ulcer. The search continues for interventions that affected individuals and their care providers can count on to heal and manage these challenging wounds, stopping the dreaded progression to amputation and death. The path to healing a patient's DFU often requires multidisciplinary care, including consistent offloading of insensate areas, endocrinologic and metabolic control, and improved circulation. The studies reviewed in this month's Evidence Corner suggest clinicians should consider adding tissue oxygenation1 and foot care knowledge and practice for patients with diabetes mellitus2 to improve diabetic foot care management.