A study to assess the effectiveness of acetic acid soak in healing foot ulcer among diabetic patients at Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital, Chennai.

Abstract: The aim and objective of the study was to assess the level of diabetic foot ulcer among the diabetic patient before giving acetic acid soak, the effectiveness of acetic acid soak among diabetic patient with diabetic foot ulcer and to determine the association between post test level of diabetic foot ulcer and selected demographic variables such as age, gender, religion, domicile, education, source of health information, working pattern, family history, duration of diabetic mellitus of the diabetic patient. A pre experimental approach was used and a one group pre test post test approach was adopted. A total of 60 diabetic patient participated in the present study, who had either mild or moderate diabetic foot ulcer and were residing in Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospitals at Chennai and those who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A standardized tool was used for data collection after getting their informed consent. Bates – Jensen wound assessment Scale was used to categorize the participants as whether they have mild, moderate level of diabetic foot ulcer. Convenient sampling method was adopted to select the sample of the study. The study concluded that acetic acid soak improves the level of diabetic foot ulcer of diabetic patient in Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospitals at Chennai. The difference was found to be statistically significant at p<0.001 level which indicates the effectiveness of acetic acid soak in improving the diabetic foot ulcer. Acetic acid soak is beneficial for improving the diabetic foot ulcer of diabetic patient. Key Words: Diabetic foot ulcer, Diabetic patient, Acetic acid soak, Sree Balaji Medical College and Hospital.