Maggot Debridement as a Treatment for Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Abstract

Diabetic foot ulcers can have detrimental effects on one's health. According to Reka, Rao, Sahana, and Prabhu, “Diabetes is a major global health concern, due to its associated complications, such as the risk of chronic non-healing wounds… Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), are complex, and have implications for the life expectancy of a patient” (2018). Problems that can be associated with diabetic foot ulcers are infection, amputation, higher hospital costs, and longer hospital stays. By reducing healing time and infection rates, nurses have the potential to help patients heal more efficiently and lower healthcare costs as well as shorten hospital stays. Debridement is the facilitation of developing new, healthy tissue (Reka, P.D, Rao, S.S, Sahana, T.G., Prabhu, A., 2018). Conventional methods for debridement include: surgery, wound dressings, skin grafts, and much more. Alternatively, maggot debridement therapy is a form of debridement where live maggots are placed in necrotic wounds and used to clean out dead tissue (Reka, P.D, Rao, S.S, Sahana, T.G., Prabhu, A., 2018). The purpose of this evidence based practice brief is to compare the healing times and patient outcomes of adults with diabetic foot ulcers who received maggot debridement versus conventional treatment. Nurses can use this information when caring for patients with diabetic foot ulcers by using the most effective treatments to decrease healing time and improve patient outcomes.