Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Patients with burns have to live with a variety of long-term physical and psychosocial consequences. Burns lead to prolonged hospital stay, disfiguring scars, disability, and even death. Since self-immolation is common in women of Iraqi Kurdistan, the present study sought to explore the experiences of women living with scars caused by self-immolation. ⋯ Four categories emerged during the data analysis: (1) feelings of disbelief, regret, and anger caused by post-burn scars; (2) desperately seeking solutions; (3) grief due to disappointment and surrender to despair; and (4) rejection and isolation. In conclusion, individuals with scars and disfigurements sometimes adopted inappropriate measures to deal with the psychological problems caused by others' behaviors and wrong perceptions. Educational and support programs are hence indicated to promote awareness levels of self-immolation survivors, their families, and the whole society.
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To analyze the direct costs of treating critically ill patients in the intensive care unit of a center specializing in treating burns. ⋯ The direct costs of the treatment of burn patients at the study center were high. The drugs and blood products block presented the highest mean total and daily costs. Non surviving patients presented higher costs.
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Initial therapy of severe burns in specialized burn trauma centers is a challenging task faced by the treating multi-professional and interdisciplinary team. A lack of consistent operating procedures and varying structural conditions was recently demonstrated in preliminary data of our group. These results raised the question on how specific treatment measures in acute burn care are met in the absence of standardized guidelines. ⋯ While many burn-related issues are clearly not questionable and managed in a similar way in most participating facilities, we were able to show that the most contentious issues in burn trauma management involve initial volume resuscitation, management of inhalation trauma and topical burn wound treatment. Further research is required to address these topics and evaluate a potential superiority of a regime in order to increase the level of evidence.
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The aim of this work was to characterize the ability of essential oils to support antibiotics against pathogenic bacteria in wounds. Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria obtained from wound infections were identified according to standard microbiological methods. ⋯ The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration of the essential oils were established by the micro-dilution broth method. Although cinnamon, clove, thyme and lavender essential oils were found to have the greatest antibacterial activity when used alone, the greatest additive and synergistic effects against pathogenic wound bacteria in combination with recommended antibiotics were demonstrated by basil, clary sage and rosemary oils.
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The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms (ARO) in burn units is increasing worldwide and contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality. Study aims are to describe the burden of AROs in burn patients admitted to a tertiary burn unit, to evaluate the impact of contact precautions implemented after an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, and to identify possible predictors of ARO acquisition. ⋯ This study describes the ARO profile of burn patients admitted to a tertiary burn unit. The results suggest that implementation of unit-wide contact precautions may not significantly reduce the frequency of AROs among burn patients. Contact precautions for patients transferred from the ICU, undergoing surgery, and large burns may be of benefit.