Annals of plastic surgery
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Annals of plastic surgery · Aug 2003
A review of emergency department fluid resuscitation of burn patients transferred to a regional, verified burn center.
The purpose of this study was to examine the adequacy of burn patient fluid resuscitation in relationship to the American Burn Association formula before arrival at a regional burn center. Further substratification of the data was undertaken to compare total burn surface area and fluid volume resuscitation as evaluated from the primary hospital's emergency department staff vs. the burn intensive care unit staff. The charts of all patients admitted to the burn center during 1 year were reviewed retrospectively. ⋯ More important, early communication with the referring burn staff has been encouraged. Early communication permits review of estimated TBSA burn evaluations and permits cooperative calculations and optimal delivery of early fluid resuscitation. Burn center practitioners can improve care of patients before arrival by appropriately guiding the referring physician.