Table 12.3.

The nine essential skills to prevent amputations in diabetes and the possible specialty responsible

Essential skills	Possible team members
The ability to perform hemodynamic and anatomic vascular assessment	Vascular surgeon Interventionalist (cardiologist or radiologist) Vascular medicine
The ability to perform a peripheral neurologic workup	Neurologist Endocrinologist Podiatrist
The ability to perform site-appropriate culture technique	Infectious disease specialist Surgeon Wound nurse Physical therapist
The ability to perform wound assessment and staging or grading of infection and ischemia	Vascular surgeon Podiatrist Surgeon Infectious disease specialist Wound nurse Physical therapist
The ability to perform site-specific bedside and intraoperative incision and drainage or débridement	Podiatric surgeon Orthopedic surgeon Plastic surgeon Surgeon Vascular surgeon
The ability to initiate and to modify culture-specific and patient-appropriate antibiotic therapy	Infectious disease specialist Endocrinologist Primary care physician Vascular surgeon Podiatrist Surgeon
The ability to perform revascularization	Vascular surgeon Interventionalist (cardiologist or radiologist)
The ability to perform soft tissue or osseous reconstruction of deformities and defects	Podiatric surgeon Plastic surgeon Orthopedic surgeon Surgeon
The ability to perform appropriate postoperative monitoring to reduce risks of reulceration and infection	Podiatrist Wound nurse

Adapted from Fitzgerald RH, Mills JL, Joseph W, Armstrong DG. The diabetic rapid response acute foot team: 7 essential skills for targeted limb salvage. Eplasty 2009;9:e15.