Managing Contributing Factors to a Burn Patient's Length of Stay

A third-degree burn is a severe injury that can require an extended hospital stay. However, several new burn treatments have become available over the past several years that may lessen the length of the hospital stay. Some of these include infection control, improved coverage of wounds, life-saving techniques, and better management of inhalation injuries. Despite the improvements, burn patient length of stay has not decreased by any significant metrics recently. 

Which Burn Survivors Have the Greatest Ongoing Challenges? 

Burns, smoke inhalation, and scalding can cause intense metabolic changes that can be difficult for doctors to diagnose, much less see. Unfortunately, these types of severe burns can have a negative and lasting impact on every organ system in the human body.  

Additionally, dealing with physical and psychological changes, relationship changes, loss of control, and significant changes at work or school cause any burn survivor to need more medical care than they initially thought.  

What Effects Hospital Length of Stay with Burn Patients? 

The National Library of Medicine, which is closely associated with the National Center for Biotechnology Information, reported information about the hospital length of stay, shortened as HOS, in September 2017. For every one percent of a patient's body with a burn injury, they can expect a one-day HOS. However, the organization repeated the study later and determined that HOS for burn survivors can be significantly longer than that.  

According to the National Library of Medicine, adults with longer HOS typically have severe burns over 20 to 25 percent of their skin and, sometimes, their internal organs. Another huge risk factor for a prolonged HOS is patients reporting smoke inhalation injuries. A person's weight, general poor health, and whether they smoke also contribute significantly to a longer hospital stay.  

What Constitutes a Severe Burn Injury? 

Certain characteristics of burn survivors tell medical professionals that they may be at higher risk of extensive HOS compared to smaller or less serve injuries. Here are several examples of burn survivor characteristics that can put them at risk: 

• Adults who present with burns spread over 20 percent of the surface of their body, although some doctors disagree and look for a 25 percent figure. Older adults and children may reach the categories of severe burns and longer HOS with a smaller percentage of burned skin. 

• Chemical burns 

• Complications of another major trauma, such as receiving a concussion and third-degree burns in the same car accident 

• High voltage electrical burn 

• Smoke inhalation injury 

Regardless of how people in the burn community initially sustained their injury, prompt emergency medical attention is crucial to healing. 

What Hospitals Can Do to Reduce the Burn Patient's Length of Stay 

People who can receive prompt treatment for burns in a hospital emergency department or burn center should receive it. Since transfer to an inpatient hospital room is usually necessary, doctors and nurses check each patient's airways, circulation, new disabilities, exposure to elements, and adjustment to their surroundings. Nurses should triage and transfer burn survivors as soon as it's safe to do so.  

The ability to dispatch medical providers to a potential mass casualty event can also save lives and reduce chronic pain and disability. Burn survivors with other trauma should receive priority both for emergency treatment and transfer to a hospital room. Managing burn survivors with co-current issues like fluid therapy or cardiac care best occurs in a hospital intensive care unit. 

Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors Offers Numerous Resources Around Hospitalization 

We are pleased to offer free and low-cost resources for the burn survivor community. Examples include support groups, learning tools, and conferences. Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors also encourages you to download a free report titled State of the Survivor Report. We interviewed 350 burn survivors in 2022, and you will be fascinated with what they have to say.