Burn Pain Management at Burn Unit of Yekatit 12 Hospitals, Addis Ababa

Burn pain is a unique and complex challenge for all health professionals and the patients. The only way to insure quality burn pain relief is the patient's self-report. Thus, assessment of severity of pain and its associated factors are important in treatment plan.

To assess severity of burn pain and associated factors in Yekatit 12 Hospitals burn unit from January 1, 2017, to March 30, 2017.

Hospital based cross sectional study design was conducted. Data was collected by using structural questionnaires from all eligible patients, those admitted to burn unit of Yekatit 12 Hospital during the study period. Severity of burn pain was assessed by using numerical, facial, and behavioral pain scale measurement tools. Pain assessment scale was deployed for patients by data collectors before medication and dressing change. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify significant predictors based on p value less than 0.05 with 95% confidence interval.

A total of 62 burn patients were included in the study. 87.1% of the patients feel severe pain and 12.9% of the patients feel moderate pain. Pediatrics age groups were about 11 times more likely to feel severe pain than adults, and patients with TBSA ≥ 25% were about 8 times more likely to feel severe burn pain than those with TBSA < 25% [AOR = 7.773; CI 1.184, 51.043] (P = 0.033).

Majorities of burn patients had severe pain and burn pain was not appropriately treated. Therefore, appropriate pain management was strongly recommended.