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Management of diabetic foot disease and amputation in the Irish health system: a qualitative study of patients’ attitudes and experiences with health services

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Health Services Research, July 2015
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  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (73rd percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (61st percentile)

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5 Facebook pages

Citations

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39 Dimensions

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181 Mendeley
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Title
Management of diabetic foot disease and amputation in the Irish health system: a qualitative study of patients’ attitudes and experiences with health services
Published in
BMC Health Services Research, July 2015
DOI 10.1186/s12913-015-0926-9
Pubmed ID
Authors

Sarah Delea, Claire Buckley, Andrew Hanrahan, Gerald McGreal, Deirdre Desmond, Sheena McHugh

Abstract

Diabetes is an increasingly prevalent chronic illness that places a huge burden on the individual, the health system and society. Patients with active foot disease and lower limb amputations due to diabetes have a significant amount of interaction with the health care services. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and experiences of foot care services in Ireland among people with diabetes and active foot disease or lower limb amputations. A purposive sample of individuals who had either active foot disease or a lower limb amputation as a result of diabetes were recruited from the Prosthetic, Orthotic and Limb Absence Rehabilitation (POLAR) Unit of an Irish hospital. One-to-one interviews were conducted in the POLAR unit using a semi-structured topic guide. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse and describe patterns within the data. Ten males participated in the study. Most participants expressed a need for emotional support alongside the medical management of their condition. There were substantial differences between participants with regard to the level of education and information they appeared to have received regarding their illness. There were also variations in levels of service received. Transport and medication costs were considered barriers. Having a medical card, which entitles the holder to free medical care, eased the burden of the patient's illness. A number of participants attributed some of the problems they faced with services to the health care system as a whole rather than health care professionals. Results suggest that rehabilitation services should place a strong focus on psychological as well as physical adjustment to active foot disease or lower limb amputations. The delivery of services needs to be standardised to ensure equal access to medical care and supplies among people with or at risk of lower extremity amputations. The wider social circumstances of patients should be taken into consideration by health care professionals to provide effective support while patients adjust to this potentially life changing complication. The patient's perspective should also be used to inform health service managers and health professionals on ways to improve services.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 181 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United Kingdom 1 <1%
Ireland 1 <1%
Unknown 179 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 38 21%
Student > Bachelor 25 14%
Student > Ph. D. Student 12 7%
Researcher 11 6%
Student > Postgraduate 9 5%
Other 32 18%
Unknown 54 30%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 45 25%
Medicine and Dentistry 39 22%
Engineering 6 3%
Psychology 6 3%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 3%
Other 18 10%
Unknown 62 34%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 April 2016.
All research outputs
#6,104,604
of 22,816,807 outputs
Outputs from BMC Health Services Research
#2,834
of 7,636 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#70,345
of 263,426 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Health Services Research
#40
of 103 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,816,807 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 73rd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,636 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 263,426 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 103 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 61% of its contemporaries.