The impact of a burn wound education program and implementation of a clinical pathway on patient outcomes

Patients are often discharged before burn wounds are fully healed, which requires home care nurses to manage complex burn care. This study evaluated patient outcomes at 3 periods: (1) before visiting nurses participated in a burn care education program, (2) after visiting nurses participated in a burn education program, and (3) after the implementation of a burn clinical pathway. A random sample of 54 patient records from the first 2 periods and the entire sample of 12 records from the third period were reviewed. Demographic variables included age, sex, race, percentage of total body surface area burned, and mechanism of burn. Outcome variables measured were weight maintenance, wound infection, pain management, unplanned readmissions to the burn unit, and documentation of patient education. The findings of this study show the positive impact of education in combination with the use of a burn home care clinical pathway.