Quantitative Analysis of Estimated Burn Size Accuracy for Transfer Patients

The objective of this study was to quantify differences between estimated TBSA from referring hospitals vs calculated TBSA in the burn unit in regards to several variables. We conducted a retrospective review of 735 burn patients admitted over a 17-month period. Three hundred twenty-six patients fit the criteria of transfers with recorded %TBSA estimations from referring hospitals. Referring %TBSA was compared with actual %TBSA, and the difference was expressed as a percentage of actual %TBSA. This was then used to group referring estimations as underestimated (less than −25%), satisfactory (−25 to 25%), or overestimated (greater than 25%). A paired t-test was used to assess the paired differences for significance. Secondary variables were then assessed between groups. When assessing associations of these clinical measures, a one-way analysis of variance was used for continuous variables and Pearson’s χ2 test or Fisher’s exact test was used. Of the 326 patients analyzed, 13 were underestimated, 63 were satisfactory, and 250 were overestimated. The ratio of overestimation to underestimation exceeded 19:1 and the ratio of overestimation to satisfactory estimation was nearly 4:1, with a statistically significant difference in referred %TBSA and actual %TBSA (P

Source: Journal of Burn Care and Research - December 23, 2016 Category: Rehabilitation Tags: Original Articles: 2016 ABA Papers Source Type: research