Changes in daily nursing needs and self-care capability of people with diabetes after in-hospital treatment for foot complications: A descriptive study.
Magdalena Annersten Gershater, Slobodan Zdravkovic, Targ Elgzyri
PMID 38787933WHAT IT FOUND
People with diabetes treated in hospital for foot complications needed more help at discharge with wheelchair use, toilet transfers, medication and home or nursing home support.
Key findings
01At discharge, 57.2% used a wheelchair compared with 51.5% at admission, 16% needed mobility assistance to the toilet compared with 5.2%, and 38.9% needed help with medication at home compared with 29.1%.
02At discharge, 47% went home without municipal assistance compared with 57.5% at admission, 26.9% went home with municipal support compared with 22.3%, and 9% went to a short-term nursing home compared with 6%.
03At discharge, 44.3% had wound dressings planned at home, 21.4% at a primary healthcare centre and 34.3% at hospital; 13% were discharged with negative pressure wound therapy.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 134 patients from one Swedish hospital were studied, and the records were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, so the sample was limited. Self-care and nursing needs were taken from free-text records rather than a systematic assessment tool. The study did not report foot complication outcomes, so it cannot show whether increased nursing needs were related to ulcer healing or recurrence. Major amputations were excluded, so the findings do not describe the most severely affected foot cases. There was no long-term follow-up, so it is unknown whether the increased needs persisted after discharge. Four patients readmitted with a new or worsening ulcer were counted again as new participants.
Declared interests
The study reported no funding, and the authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the increased needs as proof that hospital treatment caused loss of independence. The study compared admission and discharge records in the same patients and did not report foot outcomes or long-term follow-up.