Introduction The quality of life in developed countries has improved over the past 50 years, increasing the average lifespan by nearly 30 years. Individuals aged 65 years and over account for 13% of the U.S. population. This “elderly” population is…
Introduction According to the National Burn Repository, burn injuries are responsible for 40,000 annual hospital admissions, of which one third are pediatric patients. Despite the steady decrease of burn injuries over the past three decades, children continue to represent a…
Introduction Approximately 8% of women experience trauma during their pregnancies. Trauma in pregnancy is the most common cause of nonobstetric-related death; more generally, trauma is the leading cause of death in the age group under 40 in the United States.…
Introduction The bedside nurse caring for the severely burned patient is given more responsibility than in most types of serious illness. It is extremely important that the nurse be an integral part of the team of people caring for the…
Introduction Approximately 4000 burn victims die each year from complications related to thermal injury. Burn deaths generally occur in a bimodal distribution, either immediately after the injury or weeks later due to multisystem organ failure (MOF), a pattern covered in…
Introduction Acute renal dysfunction represents a critical complication of an acute thermal injury and is associated with a significant increase in morbidity and mortality. Currently, the incidence of acute renal failure (ARF) in burn patients varies between 0.5% and 30%,…
Introduction Burn trauma begins via a cutaneous thermal injury with or without an inhalation injury. These local primary injuries initiate a series of pathophysiologic cascades previously discussed. Fluid shifts into thermally damaged tissue as well as global endothelial activation; glycocalyx…
Introduction A severe burn elicits a stress response that initially assists the body in compensating for and adapting to a traumatic injury. There is an elevation in circulating concentrations of catecholamines such as epinephrine and norepinephrine alongside a concurrent increase…
Introduction The massive burn is as much a metabolic insult as it is a tissue injury. Clearly resultant tissue defects represent the critical factor in long-term functional complications from massive burns. In the acute phase of burn care, a persistent,…
Certain humoral and metabolic responses to thermal and mechanical trauma that maintain homeostasis and prevent cellular dysfunction also produce alterations in electrolyte balance. An example is renal retention of sodium during the resuscitative phase of burn injury, which alters sodium…