Foot health in older people and the nurses' role in foot health care-a review of literature

Foot health in older people and the nurses' role in foot health care-a review of literature Aims: To describe foot health in older people and the role of nurses in foot health care. There is value in developing preventive measures in foot health care in older people, in creating educational programmes for nurses of foot care and in developing foot health evaluation instrument for nurses. Methods: The literature was retrieved from the Medline and CINAHL databases between 1980 and January 2008. Altogether 35 articles were reviewed. Findings: Based on the review, older people have a variety of foot health problems. Nurses have a theoretical knowledge of foot care, but they do not consider their clinical skills adequate. Conclusions: Future research should focus on evaluating in which areas of foot care nurses' knowledge is strongest and how effective their foot caring activities are. Nurses work closely with older people and are in a position to identify and prevent their foot health problems.