Rogers LC, Lavery LA, Joseph WS, Armstrong DG, et al.
Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association. Date of publication 2020 Mar 25;volume ():.
1. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 2020 Mar 25. doi: 10.7547/20-051. [Epub ahead of print]
All Feet On Deck-The Role of Podiatry During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preventing
hospitalizations in an overburdened healthcare system, reducing amputation and
death in people with diabetes.
Rogers LC(1), Lavery LA(2), Joseph WS(3), Armstrong DG(4).
Author information:
(1)American Board of Podiatric Medicine, Los Angeles, California.
(2)Professor, Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Texas, Southwestern
Medical Center Dallas, Texas.
(3)Editor, Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, Bethesda,
Maryland.
(4)Professor of Surgery and Director, Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance
(SALSA), Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los
Angeles, California.
The COVID-19 pandemic is driving significant change in the healthcare system and
disrupting the best practices for diabetic limb preservation, leaving large
numbers of patients without care. Patients with diabetes and foot ulcers are at
increased risk for infections, hospitalization, amputations, and death. Podiatric
care is associated with fewer diabetes-related amputations, ER visits,
hospitalizations, length-of-stay, and costs. But podiatrists must mobilize and
adopt the new paradigm of shifts away from hospital care to community-based care.
Implementing the proposed Pandemic Diabetic Foot Triage System, in-home visits,
higher acuity office visits, telemedicine, and remote patient monitoring can help
podiatrists manage patients while reducing the COVID-19 risk. The goal of
podiatrists during the pandemic is to reduce the burden on the healthcare system
by keeping diabetic foot and wound patients safe, functional, and at home.
DOI: 10.7547/20-051
PMID: 32208983
