An epidemiologic study of burns: Standards of care and patients' outcomes

Abstract

Background: Many people suffer from burn injuries every year, and burns make the patients undergo surgeries and years of rehabilitation. Burns lead to more years of disability, compared to cancer or heart diseases. Epidemiologic studies are needed to reveal the span, impact, and related factors of burns to help take appropriate efforts to reduce its mortality and morbidity.

Materials and methods: This study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was a descriptive retrospective study conducted on 836 burn patients who were admitted to the main special burn hospital of Isfahan, Iran. Data were collected from archived patients' files using a checklist approved by the faculties of epidemiology and nursing. In the second phase, a survey was done based on the professional task checklist of burn ward nurses to assess the fulfillment of each task by the nurses.

Results: Burns were found to occur more among those in the age groups of 20-30 (26.2%) and 0-10 years (22.9%). The most common causes of burns were flammables and gas explosions due to imprudence at home and workplaces, or self-infliction. Mortality rate was 21.7% due to sepsis, shock, and inhalation injuries, respectively. Nurses gave 19.78 out of 50 points (39.56%) to their performance in the prevention of sepsis.

Conclusions: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that there is still an increasing need for safety education and using environmental safety measures, as well as developing high-quality methods to transport burn patients and administer care to decrease the mortality and morbidity associated with burns.

Keywords: Burns; Iran; epidemiology; nurses; sepsis; shock.

Figure 1

Causes of death in various wards