Journal of burn care & research : official publication of the American Burn Association
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As the overall survival rate for burn injury has improved, increased emphasis is placed on postburn morbidity and the optimization of functional and cosmetic outcomes. One major cause of morbidity and functional deficits is that of joint contractures. The true incidence of postburn contractures and their associated risk factors remains unknown. ⋯ Predictors of the number of contractures included male sex, medical problems, flash burn, neuropathy, TBSA burned, and TBSA grafted. Similar to a previous single-center study on postburn contractures, approximately one third of the patients with an eligible burn injury requiring autografting developed a contracture at hospital discharge. It is likely that these contractures develop despite early therapeutic interventions such as positioning and splinting; therefore, the challenge to the burn community remains, to identify new and better prevention strategies.
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Burn injury to the face can lead to scarring and contractures that may impair oral competence for articulation, feeding, airway intubation access, oral/dental hygiene, aesthetics, and facial expression. Although a range of therapy interventions has been discussed for preventing contracture formation, there is minimal information on current practice patterns. This research examined patterns of clinical practice for orofacial burns management during a 4-year period to determine the nature and extent of clinical consistency in current care. ⋯ Furthermore, in 2014, there was an increased use of assessment tools and clinical indicators to guide patient treatment. Agreement regarding clinical practice pathways for orofacial contracture rehabilitation is still emerging, and treatment continues to be predominantly guided by clinical experience. There is an urgent need for treatment efficacy research utilizing validated outcome measure tools to inform clinical consensus and practice guidelines.
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After sustaining burn injuries overseas, U. K. Armed Forces personnel are evacuated to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine. ⋯ The number of accidental noncombat burns remained constant. The decrease in combat burns may reflect a relative decrease in military intensity and effective protective equipment and safety measures. Further education may allow for an additional decrease in preventable burn injuries.
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On July 2012, a rehabilitation hospital merged with a trauma center where the regional burn center is located. That rehabilitation center provides the only burn rehabilitation program in our region. The objective of this study was to determine if earlier initiation of inpatient rehabilitation after merger had an effect on burn survivors' functional outcomes and resource utilization. ⋯ Patients transferred before the merger had significantly more chemical burns (5% vs 0%, P = .046), and more work-related burns (26.7% vs 7.7%, P = .004). Patients transferred after the merger had significantly shorter burn center LOS (28.5 ± 20.9 days vs 38.8 ± 34.2 days, P = .043), and shorter waiting time for rehab (0.7 ± 1.1 days vs 1.5 ± 2.3 days, P = .010) than patients transferred before the merger. Early initiation of inpatient rehabilitation, after the burn center and the inpatient rehabilitation service were located in the same hospital, improved burn survivors' resource utilization.
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Visual diagnosis of second-degree burns has proven inadequate for determining the appropriate treatment regimen. Although multiple noninvasive imaging techniques have shown promise for providing information about burn wound severity, the ideal technology to aid burn wound excision would provide real-time readouts. Herein, the authors examine a high-resolution infrared (IR) camera (thermography) and a multiprobe adapter system (MPAS-6; transepidermal evaporative water loss, colorimetry) to assess their usefulness in predicting burn severity. ⋯ Importantly, surface temperature taken on every single day after injury was predictive of all histologically determined measurements of burn depth (ie, collagen coagulation, apoptosis, necrosis, vascular occlusion). The results indicate that IR imaging and skin quality probes can be used to support the diagnosis of burn severity. Most importantly, IR measurements gave insight into both the zone of coagulation and the zone of stasis on every postburn day studied.