Burns Pathway

Initial Assessment & Management

Assessment

There are various methods in estimating burns area and use of these is situation
dependent. When calculating burn area, erythema should not be included. this may take
a few hours to fade so some overestimation is inevitable if the burn is estimated
accurately.

This is a good and quick means of estimating medium to large burns in adults. The body
is divided into areas of 9% from which the total area of the burn can be estimated. This
is however not an accurate assessment of burn area in children.

If used correctly, the Lund and Browder chart is the most accurate method os assessing burn area. it compensates for variation in body shape with age and can therefore give a very accurate assessment.

It is important that all of the burn is exposed and assessed. During the assessment the environment should be kept warm and small areas of the burn area exposed sequentially to minimise heat loss. It can be difficult to assess pigmented skin so in some cases it may be necessary to remove loose epidermal layers in order to accurately measure burn size.

Resource:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC449823/

Hettiaratchy, S & Papini, R (2004) 'Initail Assessment of a Major Burn: II -
Assessment and Resuscitation' BMJ Jul 10; 329(7457): 101-103

A Thermal Burns