Burn management during the COVID-19 pandemic: recommendations and considerations

Abstract

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease, caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2). This disease has been raising international public health concerns since its recent outbreak in December 2019. As the virus is easily transmitted by respiratory droplets, all hospital departments needed to change their practices in an attempt to control the spread of this virus. Burn units and clinics are particularly affected by this pandemic because of the larger risk of contamination for both patients and caregivers. Furthermore, cross-clinical aspects especially pain management and complications such as coagulopathy might be caused by both extensive burns and COVID-19 infections, which makes the management of these patients particularly challenging. That's why we covered both main aspects in this review. In addition, we present briefly a synthesis of guidelines from several entities to help manage the health crisis and provide optimal care for all burn patients during this pandemic.

Keywords: Burn management; coagulopathy; coronavirus; pain management.

Figure 1

PRISMA 2009 flow diagram explaining the selection process