A nurse-led foot care educational intervention for adults with end-stage kidney disease on haemodialysis: A pilot quantitative study

BACKGROUND: People with end-stage kidney disease on haemodialysis are at high risk for peripheral arterial disease, foot ulceration, and lower limb amputation. Education on foot care is crucial for these patients to prevent complications. Despite the importance, no studies have evaluated nurse-led foot care education for this group. AIM: This pilot study aimed to conduct an early evaluation of the programme theory and the feasibility of measurement tools for a nurse-led foot care educational intervention. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design was employed to evaluate the intervention's feasibility and preliminary effectiveness. SETTINGS: The study was conducted at King Khaled Hospital in Hail City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. PARTICIPATIONS: A convenience sample of 54 haemodialysis patients, their 54 informal caregivers, and 9 haemodialysis nurses was recruited. METHODS: The intervention consisted of a single educational session for nurses, followed by multiple educational sessions (the first session was a face-to-face presentation and discussion session, the second session was the foot self-care hands-on practice training session) delivered by nurses to patients and caregivers. Data were collected on foot care knowledge and foot self-care behaviour at baseline and six months follow-up. RESULTS: Demonstrated significant improvements in nurses' foot care knowledge (baseline mean score 4.67, follow-up 9.56), patients' foot care knowledge (pre 2.85, post 8.52) and self-care behaviours (pre score 37.85, post 75.56), and caregivers' knowledge (pre 2.56, post 8.37). CONCLUSION: The high enrolment, completion, and compliance rates in the study demonstrate that the nurse-led foot care educational intervention was both feasible and effective in improving foot care knowledge and self-care behaviours among end-stage kidney disease patients, their caregivers, and nurses.