Nearly 2 million Americans develop a diabetic foot ulcer each year; within 5 years of ulceration, 5% will undergo major amputation and 50% to 70% will die. Experts have recommended a multidisciplinary team approach to optimally address certain comorbidities in a coordinated manner and to reduce major amputations. Authors including HIP Investigators Dr. Meghan Brennan and Dr. Christie Bartels described multidisciplinary team composition and function using a systems engineering conceptual model and summarized the impact of multidisciplinary teams on major amputations. They hypothesized that multidisciplinary teams are associated with a reduced risk of major amputation.
The group found that multidisciplinary team composition was variable but reduced major amputations in 94% of studies.
Read the article