• Mikaela Fein, Jamie Quinn, Kerrianne Watt, Tara Nichols, Roy Kimble, and Leila Cuttle.
• Centre for Children's Burns and Trauma Research, Queensland Children's Medical Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2014 Dec 1;26(6):609-15.

ObjectiveThe present study evaluates the prehospital care of paediatric burn patients in Queensland (QLD). As first aid (FA) treatment has been shown to affect burn progression and outcome, the FA treatment and the risk of associated hypothermia in paediatric patients were specifically examined in the context of paramedic management of burn patients.MethodsData were retrospectively collected from electronic ambulance response forms (eARFs) for paediatric burn patients (0-5 years) who were attended by Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) from 2008 to 2010. Data were collected from 117 eARFs of incidents occurring within the Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns regions.ResultsInitial FA measures were recorded in 77.8% of cases, with cool running water FA administered in 56.4% of cases. The duration of FA was recorded in 29.9% of reports. The duration of FA was significantly shorter for patients in Northern QLD (median = 10 min, n = 10) compared with Brisbane (median = 15 min, n = 18), P = 0.005. Patient temperatures were recorded significantly more often in Brisbane than in other regions (P = 0.041); however, in total, only 24.8% of all patients had documented temperature readings. Of these, six (5%) were recorded as having temperatures ≤ 36.0°C. Burnaid(TM) was the most commonly used dressing and was applied to 55.6% of all patients; however, it was applied with a variety of different outer dressings. Brisbane paramedics applied Burnaid significantly less often (44.3%) compared with paramedics from Northern QLD (72.7%) and Far Northern QLD (60.9%), P = 0.025.ConclusionsDespite FA and patient temperatures being important prognostic factors for burn patients, paramedic documentation of these was often incomplete, and there was no consistent use of burns dressings.© 2014 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

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