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Diabetic Foot Disease: from PRevention to treatment to IMproved patient Outcomes (DFD PRIMO)

Diabetic foot disease (DFD), is associated with devastating outcomes including foot ulceration, sepsis, amputation and premature death. The risk of premature death in people with DFD is reportedly nine fold the risk of amputation. Early interventions to prevent the first ulcer are a key priority of national and international clinical guidelines yet, the evidence base for interventions to prevent first foot ulcers is ‘practically non-existent’. To address this unmet and critical need the proposed programme of research will focus on primary and secondary prevention of DFD and novel treatment approaches to improve patient outcomes for those with active foot disease. The overall goal of this programme is to train a multidisciplinary cohort of health care professionals to doctoral level in order to increase internationally competitive DFD research activity in Ireland, to provide a strong evidence-base for prevention and treatment provision decisions and improved patient outcomes. The establishment of our comprehensive training programme will enable PhD students to develop a state-of-the-art knowledge of the key theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the field. We are proposing a programme of patient-focused research, involving six inter-related research projects in which the proposed doctoral projects will foster individual achievements by students as well as teamwork in a national and international network. The aims of this programme are as follows: a) To develop a coherent doctoral programme of patient-focused research in the thematic area of DFD that will bring tangible benefits and impacts to patient populations and health b) Build capacity and expertise amongst health care professionals (HCPs) particularly in underrepresented health-related disciplines (e.g. podiatric medicine and nursing) thus increasing the number of highly skilled, future research leaders. c).To support cross-disciplinary research of high quality that will positively impact on public health and policy and allow for rapid application and translation of evidence into clinical practice.