Burn dressings: a critical indicator for patient care classification in burn units

Nursing services consume approximately 60% of a hospital personnel budget, requiring justification for staffing levels and manpower expenses. The lack of an adequate level of nursing care affects the operation of the entire health care team. The purpose of this descriptive study is to establish the mean tasking time to apply burn dressings. The number of nursing staff required to complete a burn dressing application is dependent on the location of injury and the ability of the patient to cooperate. Establishing the essential mean tasking time for routine post-operative dressing assists in the production of accurate reporting of nursing manpower requirements.