Diabetic Foot in Primary and Tertiary (DEFINITE) Care is an inter‐institutional and multi‐disciplinary team (MDT) health systems innovation programme at a healthcare cluster in Singapore. We aim to achieve coordinated MDT care across primary and tertiary care for patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), within our public healthcare cluster ‐ an integrated network of seven primary care polyclinics and two acute care tertiary hospitals (1700‐bed and 800‐bed) with a total catchment population of 2.2 million residents. Results from prospective DEFINITE Care is referenced against a retrospective 2013–2017 cohort, which was previously published. Cardiovascular profile of the study population is compared against the same population's profile in the preceding 12 months. Between June 2020 and December 2021, there were 3475 unique patients with DFU with mean age at 65.9 years, 61.2% male, mean baseline HbA1c at 8.3% with mean diabetes duration at 13.3 years, mean diabetes complication severity index (DCSI) at 5.6 and mean Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) at 6.8. In the 12‐months preceding enrolment to DEFINITE Care, 35.5% had surgical foot debridement, 21.2% had minor lower extremity amputation (LEA), 7.5% had major LEA whilst 16.8% had revascularisation procedures. At 18‐months after the implementation of DEFINITE Care programme, the absolute minor and major amputation rates were 8.7% (n = 302) and 5.1% (n = 176), respectively, equating to a minor and major LEA per 100000 population at 13.7 and 8.0, respectively. This represents an 80% reduction in minor amputation rates (P < .001) and a 35% reduction in major amputation rates (P = .005) when referenced against a retrospective 2013–2017 cohort, which had minor and major LEA per 100000 population at 68.9 and 12.4, respectively. As compared to the preceding 12 months, there was also a significant improvement in cardiovascular profile (glycemic and lipid control) within the DEFINITE population, with improved mean HbAc1 (7.9% from 8.4%, P < .001), low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (2.1 mmol/L from 2.2, P < .001), total cholesterol (3.9 mmol/L from 4.1, P < .001) and triglycerides levels (1.6 mmol/L from 1.8, P = .002). Multivariate analysis revealed a history of minor amputation in the preceding 12 months to be an independent predictor for major and minor amputation within the study period of 18 months (Hazard Ratio 3.4 and 1.8, respectively, P < .001). In conclusion, within DEFINITE care, 18‐month data showed a significant reduction of minor and major LEA rates, with improved medical optimisation and cardiovascular profile within the study population.

Objective Digital health has recently gained a foothold in monitoring and improving diabetes care. We aim to explore the views of patients, carers and healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding the use of a novel patient-owned wound surveillance application as part of outpatient management of patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). Methods Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with patients, carers and HCPs in wound care for DFUs. The participants were recruited from a primary care polyclinic network and two tertiary hospitals in Singapore, within the same healthcare cluster. Purposive maximum variation sampling was used to select participants with differing attributes to ensure heterogeneity. Common themes relating to the wound imaging app were captured. Results A total of 20 patients, 5 carers and 20 HCPs participated in the qualitative study. None of the participants have used a wound imaging app before. Regarding a patient-owned wound surveillance app, all were open and receptive to the system and workflow for use in DFU care. Four major themes emerged from patients and carers: (1) technology, (2) application features and usability, (3) feasibility of using the wound imaging application and (4) logistics of care. Four major themes were identified from HCPs: (1) attitudes towards wound imaging app, (2) preferences regarding functionality, (3) perceived challenges for patients/carers and (4) perceived barriers for HCPs. Conclusion Our study highlighted several barriers and facilitators from patients, carers and HCPs regarding the use of a patient-owned wound surveillance app. These findings demonstrate the potential of digital health and areas to improve and tailor a DFU wound app suitable for implementation in the local population.

The patient received expectant management and treatment with an NSAID to relieve his inflammation. He was discharged from hospital and his symptoms resolved within 72 h of onset of treatment.

No abstract

Background and Aims Vascular access (VA) guidelines recommend radio-cephalic (RC) over upper arm autogenous arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) as first line VA for hemodialysis in end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. RCAVFs generally have inferior maturation and patency rates predicated on a lower feeding arterial blood flow (BF) and outflow vein calibre (VC). However studies on postoperative BF and VC as predictors of AVF outcomes, so far are confounded by their focus on early outcomes only, heterogeneity of AVFs studied, variable timing of assessment and use of non-standardised outcome definitions. Our aim was therefore to assess the accuracy and influence of immediate post-operative BF and VC on both early and longterm outcomes in a homogenous cohort of primary RCAVFs using standardised definitions and outcome measures as mandated by VA guidelines. Method This was a prospective study conducted in multi-ethnic Asian ESRD patients who had their primary RCAVFs created between October 2013 and October 2014 under regional anesthesia at Khoo Teck Puat hospital Singapore. All AVFs were assessed immediately after surgery for brachial artery BF and outflow VC using doppler ultrasound. A 10MHz linear probe and GE Logic e R7 machine were used exclusively by a single operator. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to determine the optimal BF and VC cut-off for AVF maturation. Maturation was defined as BF&gt;600mL/min, VC&gt;6mm and vein depth &lt;6mm at 6 weeks post-op. An area under the curve (AUC)&gt; 0.7 was considered clinically significant. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to evaluate the AVF primary and secondary patency based on best BF and VC cut-offs. Cox regression statistics was used to determine AVF hazard factors. Results Fifty-seven primary RCAVFs were created and included in the study. The baseline characteristics are shown in Table 1. Sonography- based non-assisted maturation at 6 weeks was 56%. ROC identified 410 mL/min and 42mm as the best BF and VC cut-off respectively to most accurately predict 6-week maturation. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 75%, 61%, 44% and 86% for BF at 410 mL/min and 69%, 61%, 41% and 83% for VC at 42mm respectively. Survival analysis (Fig. 1 and 2) showed that AVFs with VC≥42 mm compared to &lt;42mm had significantly greater 6 months, 1-year, 2-year and 4-year primary and secondary patency rates. There was no significant difference in patency rates between AVFs with BF≥410 and &lt;410mL/min. Cox proportional regression hazard analysis showed that diabetes (HR 2.26, CI 1.02-4.99, p= 0.04) and maturation (HR 0.47, 95% CJ 0.24-0.89, p=0.02) as significant contributed to the variability of primary patency. Only VC (HR 0.28, 95% CI 0.13-0.063, p=0.002) impacted significantly towards secondary patency. Conclusion An immediate post-op BF≥410mL/min and VC≥42mm can predict early RCAVF outcome in the form of nonassisted maturation, but only VC accurately impact on longterm AVF survival. VA surveillance efforts should therefore target RCAVFs with post-op VC &lt;42mm for timely intervention and maintenance of longterm patency.