Foot examinations of diabetes patients by primary health care nurses in Auckland, New Zealand

Publication date:



Available online 1 November 2013


SOURCE:Primary Care Diabetes

Author(s): Barbara Daly , Bruce Arroll , Nicolette Sheridan , Timothy Kenealy , Alistair Stewart , Robert Scragg

AimsTo identify factors associated with patients receiving foot examinations by primary health care nurses.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of 287 randomly sampled primary health care nurses, from a total of 1091 in Auckland, completed a postal self-administered questionnaire and telephone interview. Biographical and diabetes management details were collected for 265 diabetes patients consulted by the nurses on a randomly selected day.ResultsA response rate of 86% was achieved. Nurses examined patient's feet in 46% of consultations. Controlling for demographic variables, foot examinations were associated with age, odds ratio (1.25, 95% CI 0.57-2.74) for patients aged 51-65 years and66 years (2.50, 1.08-5.75) compared with those50 years, consultations by district compared with practice nurses (14.23, 95% CI 3.82-53.05), special programme consultations compared with usual follow-up consults (8.81, 95% CI 2.99-25.93) and length of consultation (1.89, 0.72-4.97) for 15-30min and (4.45, 95% CI 1.48-13.41)30min compared with consultations15min, or for wound care (2.58, 1.01-6.61).ConclusionsDiabetes foot examinations by primary health care nurses varies greatly, and are associated with characteristics of the patient (age, need for wound care) and the consultation (district nurses, diabetes programme and duration).
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