BMJ Impact Report 2023

Demonstrating the impact of guidance in effectively managing patients with comorbidities

An article published in Future Healthcare Journal 28 outlines the importance of taking into account comorbidities when managing patients, and how BMJ Best Practice Comorbidities Manager can support healthcare professionals with this. The paper demonstrates the impact guidance can have by outlining how the healthcare system needs to change so that it can provide a better service for patients. The lead author and his colleagues, of whom all are clinical specialists, discuss how common comorbidities can interact with other conditions, and the risks associated with these interactions:

For people with diabetes presenting with sepsis, [BMJ Best Practice] advises a foot examination to be undertaken on admission, as foot infection and/or osteomyelitis may be the original source of infection. It is not uncommon to encounter patients with systemic infection in whom bandages have not been removed for several days. Delay in its detection may result in worsening foot sepsis and tissue necrosis.” Gerry Rayman Diabetes and Endocrinology Lead, Ipswich Hospital, and specialist medical adviser to Diabetes UK

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