6.13: Activity 11

Scenario

You are the trauma team member in the burn unit at the regional hospital. Your team includes a variety of healthcare providers including an ER technician who is interested in the prevention of infection, a paramedic who has lots of experience with patients going into shock, an emergency medicine physician who specializes in burns, and an ER nurse who has years of experience helping in pain management for children.

A visual assessment should be made to determine the severity of the burn injuries. The thickness of the burn – how many layers of skin as well as the amount of other tissue damaged – is used to classify the degree of the burn. Review the classification and description given in the Section 6.1 Background Information.

Case Study: Initial reporting from paramedic following a house fire.

Rule of Nines - The Rule of Nines is a quick and easy tool used for the initial management of resuscitation in burn patients.

“This is Unit 701 reporting. We have a 48 year old male who has suffered from severe third degree burns to anterior and posterior of both his lower extremities, second degree burns in the right arm (anterior) and left arm (anterior) and first degree flash burns to the anterior face is also recorded. Patient is conscious. Medications and allergies are unknown. Vitals are unstable and are as follows:

• Blood pressure is 96/52 mmHg
• Heart rate (HR) is 165 beats per minute
• Temperature is 98.4 degree Fahrenheit or 36.9 degree Celsius
• Respiratory rate (RR) is 35 [breaths/min]