Happy@feet application for the management of diabetic foot osteomyelitis

Objective: We aimed to develop and implement an application that could improve the management of patients presenting with diabetic foot osteomyelitis.

Patients and methods: Physicians from the multidisciplinary diabetic foot infection team and a software engineer first assessed the needs required for the infection management and application. An experimental version was then designed and progressively improved. A final version was implemented in clinical practice in 2013 by the multidisciplinary diabetic foot infection team of our university hospital.

Results: The application, known as Happy@feet, helps gather and allows access to all required data for patient management, dispenses prescriptions (antibiotics, nursing care, blood tests), and helps follow the evolution of the wound. At the end of the consultation, a customizable letter is generated and may be directly sent to the persons concerned. This application also facilitates clinical and economic research. In 2014, Happy@feet was used to follow 83 patients during 271 consultations, 88 of which were day care hospitalizations.

Conclusion: The Happy@feet application is useful to manage these complex patients. Once the learning period is over, the time required for data collection is compensated by the rapid dispense of prescriptions and letters. Happy@feet can be used for research projects and will be used in a remote patient management project.