Abstract
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM II) is known to lead to serious long term complications in patients with poorly controlled blood glucose, poorly managed symptoms, and unchanged life styles. Patient education and subsequent modifications of their behavior are the keys to preventing or at least delaying, these complications and improving the quality of patient’s lives. In the past, nurses and other medical professionals have been approaching patient education with different methods, settings, and formats. These have been met with varied degrees of success. Sources of Data This project sought to investigate whether a Digital Video Disc (DVD) from Family Health Media, focused on diabetic foot care, would prove to be more accessible to patients, bringing forth better retention of information regarding foot care and examination skills than written materials or individual teaching in family practice settings. Conclusion Reached This thesis set out to examine if the use of Audio visual patient education would improve patient’s skills regarding self examination of feet (diabetic foot care) to reduce the risks of diabetic foot ulcers. The DVD finding revealed, when combined with written materials, had a more positive impact on retention regarding recognition of the signs of infection and behavioral changes which positively affecting foot care as compared to written materials alone.