The effectiveness of a one-stop multidisciplinary care service on diabetic foot ulcer healing: A retrospective cohort...

Multidisciplinary team care is the standard of care for diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) management, yet traditional models often involve sequential consultations that may delay treatment initiation.

To evaluate whether a one-stop multidisciplinary clinic improves DFU healing outcomes compared with traditional sequential-consultation care.

This retrospective cohort study included patients with new-onset DFUs between April 2016 and March 2024. A historical control group (April 2016-March 2020) was compared to an intervention group treated at a one-stop integrated clinic (April 2020-March 2024). The primary outcome was time to complete healing. Secondary outcomes included major lower extremity amputation, and mortality rates. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression models were employed.

Among 237 patients (former clinic, n = 118; integrated clinic, n = 119), the integrated clinic group achieved an overall healing rate of 82%, compared to 71% in the traditional group (p = 0.103). After adjusting baseline characteristics, the integrated clinic was independently associated with faster healing (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.04-1.90; p = 0.027). Major amputation and mortality rates remained comparably low across both groups.

The one-stop multidisciplinary team model significantly improved healing outcomes by providing coordinated, same-day care, effectively overcoming the limitations of sequential referral pathways.