Critical care of the burn patient: the first 48 hours

Abstract

Abstract Background: The management of patients who have suffered burns is crucial in the clinical field. They have multiple complications which require treatment and have a high risk of mortality. Patients may survive, but they will need to live with the scars or deformities for a lifetime. Complications include edema, increased cardiac output, severe pain, and organ deformities. So, they require more comparative care than other medical complications. Treatment and nursing of burn patients is still a very challenging task for the health personnel. Objective: This work aims to highlight the nursing methods used on burn patients and to identify the relationship between mortality and the physiological and other conditions of the patients. Material and method: Different published data was collected and summarized, and the required data was extracted for further analysis using the statistical software. Result: This study observed that patient mortality has different factors like total body surface, age group, burning area percentage, and hospital treatment duration which is the marking factor in the patient mortality. This study also found that there are no gender biases for the different age groups. No one factor is responsible for the patient's death. Discussion: There are needs for prolonged and delicate treatment methods for the burn patients. As several complications arise, it is challenging for the nurses and health care personnel to keep tracking the patient's condition and giving the proper treatment. Despite the difficulties, the attentive nursing was desperately needed to properly treat burn victims. Conclusion: Though the survival rate is very high immediate treatment is necessary for burn patients. It is crucial to give the initial therapy for burn patients due to other physical complications. Depending on the patient's condition, the mortality rate also varies. Despite all difficulties, good nursing and medication can completely cure burn injuries. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2021; 35(3): 239-243] Keywords:  Shock, inhalation injury, interquartile range, total body surface area.