Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Burn injuries are some of the most physically and psychologically devastating forms of trauma and most common injuries affecting children, especially in the home environment. They are more prevalent and are a public health problem in developing countries mainly because of poor socio-economic conditions. Effective prevention programs should be guided by the results of well-designed studies aimed at investigating risk factors for burns. ⋯ Low level of education, use of kerosene for cooking and lack of knowledge of burn injury prevention and fire safety were identified as risk factors for burn injury among patients hospitalized at KNH. These risk factors should be addressed in burn injury prevention programs for Kenya.
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While burn injuries can have dramatic effect on patients' physical health, they can also lead to intense psychological distress, loss of important social and role functioning, and alterations in outward appearance. We aimed to identify potential leading indicators of recovery in the post-discharge period following acute burn injury and hospitalization. ⋯ Recovery from burn injury is complex and the most important facets of recovery change over time. Future research should focus on developing treatments to help patients adjust to post-burn appearance in the early post-discharge period, and mental health interventions may be effective as patients progress in recovery.
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Burns of the face and mouth region have a profound impact on function. Currently the outcome measure that is most commonly used in the burn care literature is horizontal and vertical opening. Impairment-based outcomes such as this do not capture the functional implications of these injuries in spite of the devastating impact they can have on burn survivor's lives. ⋯ The MIDA now offers clinicians the ability to assess mouth impairment and disability of burn survivors who have sustained burn injuries to their face and mouth region.
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Specialized burn care is categorized as an essential component in the criteria for provincial/state and regional trauma systems. Studies in the United States and New Zealand found a need for more burn surgeons and anticipated a severe shortage in the future. The purpose of this study is to describe the current active workforce of burn surgeons in Canada and forecast any perceived shortages in the future. ⋯ Canada is facing a shortage of burn care specialists similar to other developed nations. Active mentorship of surgical trainees is essential to maintain the delivery of high quality of burn care in Canada.
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There are no well accepted animal models of chronic wounds, limiting advances in understanding and treatment of chronic ulcers. We developed a porcine wound model which combines multiple factors involved in chronic wounds to create a contaminated necrotic eschar and evaluated the debriding efficacy of a novel bromelain based enzymatic debriding agent (EscharEx). ⋯ Our model simulates the initial phase of chronic wounds characterized by a contaminated necrotic eschar allowing evaluation of wound debriding agents, and that a bromelain-based debriding agent completely debrides the contaminated necrotic eschars within one week in this model.