B05: Infection & Osteomyelitis

A chronic ulcer may be stable for months, but once it becomes infected it can threaten the limb within hours and the life within days. Infection is the immediate precipitant of most diabetes-related amputations. Missed early, a mild infection becomes a deep one; recognised early, most infections are controlled with simple measures.

The module teaches that infection is a clinical diagnosis, made on inflammatory signs and never on a swab result alone. It covers IWGDF/IDSA severity classification, the probe-to-bone test combined with plain radiographs, when to image and when to sample deep tissue or bone, and how to tell osteomyelitis from acute Charcot at the bedside. It then sets out empirical antibiotic spectrum by severity, the randomised evidence on oral versus intravenous route and on duration, when surgery is needed now, and why revascularisation is often decisive in the ischaemic infected foot.

Content is tiered at Foundation, Core and Advanced level, with decision algorithms and case vignettes. You receive the Teaching Document, the Evidence Base, the slide deck, a narrated video and an audio overview.