YARA Electronic Medical Record for Diabetic Foot Ulcer Documentation

All patients with diabetes mellitus are at risk for developing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) in which occur in up to 25% of patients with diabetes. Among them, up to 24 % of ulcers will experience limb amputation. One major problem to chronic wound care such as DFUs in developing countries is lack of electronic medical record systems to collect, manage, and report clinical data. The objective of this study was to create a practical standardized electronic medical records and database of clinically relevant variables in the care of diabetic patients with foot ulcers. In this study, we implemented a simple wound care electronic medical record at a chronic wound care center (Yara) in Tehran. This electronic medical record consist on comprehensive data of the patients including demographics, medical history, baseline laboratory values, neural and vascular testing data, radiology data, wound characteristics, wound debridement data including pathology, culture results, and amputation data. The database contains variables that can be easily exported for analysis. The preliminary report of this electronic medical record showed that it could be a useful tool to increase patient safety and quality of care, allowing clinicians to more easily identify a chronic wound and intervene.