International journal of burns and trauma
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Conventional therapy for burns has always produced a nightmarish illness for patients. The lack of the ability to prevent contractures often produces dysfunctional limbs and the ugly scars resulting from severe burns are an ongoing reminder of this lengthy painful illness. This study is to determine the effectiveness of topical heparin in burns management among some patients at the Burns Intensive Care Unit (BICU) of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana. ⋯ Heparin was observed to be very effective in the management of burn injuries in the patients studied. It was effective in reduction of pain and prevention of scars and contractures. However, due to the small number of patients and lack of control for the wound healing, a firm recommendation for the use of heparin therapy in burns cannot be made and further studies would be required to establish its use especially in the African population.
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Burn injuries in low and middle income countries still remain a significant health problem, even though numbers of burn injuries in high income countries have decreased showing that such events are not "accidents" but are usually preventable. WHO states that the vast majority (over 95%) of fire-related burns occur in low and middle income countries. Burn injuries are a major cause of prolonged hospital stays, disfigurement, disability, and death in Africa Region. ⋯ Children need to be kept away from fires. Epileptics should be monitored for medication and kept away from cooking fires as well. Community members need to be encouraged to bring wrong doers to the police.
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The Combat Ready Clamp (CRoC™) was designed to control hemorrhage from the groin region, on the battlefield. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether CRoC™ user performance varied by the surface the casualty laid on (flat-hard, flat-soft, and curved-soft) and how quickly the device could be applied. The commercial manikin selected to assess user performance was designed to train soldiers in CRoC™ use. ⋯ Users were trained to use the Combat Ready Clamp effectively, and the surface the casualty was lying on made some difference to user performance. All six persons trained had success in all nine of their iterations of CRoC™ use- a 100% rate. These findings indicate that training was effective and that training of other users is plausible, feasible, and practical within the scope of the present evidence.
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To investigate the characteristics and causes of self burning among married women in the capital of Iran. ⋯ Married women who attempted to burn their lives were young wives from low socioeconomic status living in a traditional environment. Time and place of the burning showed that they attempt suicide more likely while they are doing daily routines.
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To determine the types of functional disabilities in adult and paediatric burns survivors, with specific emphasis on potential risk and socio-economic factors of burn disabilities present in Ghana. ⋯ The commonest functional disabilities recorded were scar contractions of the axilla region which had impeded the ability of the patients to lift the arm. Risk factors for burns disability included childhood age, third degree of burn incurred and anatomical part affected. Social factors influencing the lives of burn survivors with disability were good family and negative community interactions. Significant economical factors recorded were caretakers' time and financial constrains.