Healing a burn

Written by otuser on . Posted in Uncategorized

Healing a burn starts with the child receiving ideal first aid. First aid received after a burn can influence whether a child will require surgical intervention to heal their burn and decrease their length of stay in hospital [8].

Healing a burn is typically achieved through multidisciplinary input from medical, nursing and allied health staff working towards achieving the following key goals:

  • to heal a burn wound as fast as possible to minimise the formation of scar tissue, thereby minimising the risk of burn scar symptoms (eg. tightness, itch, altered appearance)
  • to minimise pain and discomfort
  • to minimise short and long-term psychosocial impacts
  • to minimise short and long term impact on a child’s developmental progression and opportunities for engagement in meaningful and purposeful roles.
Screen Shot 2016-10-19 at 11.11.34 am
key

Key Point

Burns anticipated to take greater than two weeks to heal spontaneously may require surgical intervention (i.e skin grafting) and are thus likely to leave a scar [9] [10].