Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Polyneuropathy is a debilitating condition which may be associated with large burns. The aim of this integrative review is to identify factors that contribute to the development of critical care polyneuropathy in patients admitted to an intensive care unit with a severe burn injury. PubMed, Scopus, CINHAL and EMBASE were searched up until July 2016. ⋯ Overall, factors identified as contributing to the development of critical care polyneuropathy in burn injured patients included prolonged ventilation (>7 days), large and deep total body surface area burns (mean TBSA 40%), and sepsis. Critical care polyneuropathy in burn patients remains challenging to diagnose and treat. To date, there is a lack of long term studies describing the impact of critical care polyneuropathy on functional performance or participation in activities of daily living in the burns population and this is consistent with the general literature addressing the lack of follow up assessments and long term consequences of persistent muscle weakness.
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Hot beverage scalds are a leading cause of burns in young children. The aim of this study was to look at the circumstances surrounding these injuries in terms of setting, mechanism, supervision and first aid to inform a prevention campaign. ⋯ While the aetiology of these scalds were as expected, the low use of recommended burn first aid was of concern. Although supervision was present in almost all cases, with the parent/caregiver close-by, this proximity still permitted injury. Attentiveness and continuity of supervision, which can be difficult with competing parental demands, appear to play a more important role role; as do considerations of other safety mechanisms such as hazard reduction through keeping hot drinks out of reach and engineering factors such as improved cup design. By incorporating the findings from this study and other research into a hot beverage scald prevention campaign, we hope to see a change in knowledge and behaviour in parents and caregivers of young children, and ultimately a reduction in the incidence of hot beverage scalds.