Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Case Study

The patient I received is a 66-year old man with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. He is having trouble controlling his diabetes and developed diabetic neuropathy. Because of this, he began to lose sensation in his feet and soon developed a diabetic foot ulcer. Having a well informed and trained care team is essential to the improvement of patient health. The facility can provide nurses with further education about diabetic foot ulcers and specific wound care and treatment. Having this extra knowledge allows the nurses to look for warning signs of a developing ulcer, educate about preventative measures, and know how to care for a patient with this issue. Nurses will work together with providers, pharmacies, and patients to get the best possible outcome. Having good communication between members of the health care team will improve patient’s overall health. A difficult part about working with patients with chronic illnesses is figuring out a motivator to help them to change. Motivational interviewing can help nurses and healthcare providers identify the patient’s barrier from a healthy lifestyle. For the diabetic patient, we want to figure out how the patient’s life has changed since they got into this …show more content…
Each decision affects their health and gives them the confidence to manage and conquer their disease. It is important for the nurse to educate the patient to allow them to make these important decisions. Developing a goal provides the patient with motivation and something to look forward to. A goal for the patient could be to limit or completely remove junk food from the diet. You think about difficulties with this such as the increased cost of paying for healthier foods, or when the patient is in a social setting and wants to eat junk food with his friends. We try this goal for a week and check in at that time to see if this goal was successful and if it can be extended for another