Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Diabetic Ulcers

 Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

My project looks at adjunctive use of HBOT to treat patients with chronic diabetic ulcers. This became an interest after spending time at the wound care clinic at WakeMed hospital. I was impressed by the dedication of their team and by the tremendous impact they made in their patients’ lives. In Evidence Based Practice I and II, my PICO question compared electrical stimulation and HBOT in treating patients with chronic diabetic ulcers. I created an evidence table (below) that summarized my findings.

HBOT is currently only being used to treat ulcers at Wagner stage III or greater, a point at which many doctors are already considering amputation. My goals with this project are to help raise awareness of HBOT for physical therapy students and to help educate patients facing HBOT. I will be making a PowerPoint presentation that will be available to future PT students, possibly as a supplement to PHYT 822 Advanced Patient Management.

In developing an educational brochure for patients, I was struck by how difficult it was to present information intended for a 6th grade reading level. Having a 7-syllable treatment has a profound impact the Fry scale of readability but I’ve managed to have it fit the criteria.

Documents:

Evidence Table

Capstone Project Approval Form

HBOT Patient Brochure

HBOT Educational PowerPoint Presentation

Cumulative Class Evaluation

I was able to present my PowerPoint to the Skin and Wound Care Team at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, NC. Intimidating was an understatement as everyone had many years of experience and training. What surprised me was that I was able to provide them with new information. There was also an appreciation for the resources list for area HBOT centers. I was grateful for the opportunity to share information that might help diabetic patients with foot ulcers. Cumulative Class Evaluation form shows the average score for each question plus all the additional comments provided.