Nurse knowledge of emergency management for burn and mass burn injuries

A survey was conducted on 353 registered nurses working in Emergency and Trauma departments of district and provincial hospitals in Vietnam. Contents of the survey included first aid and initial care for burn and mass burn injuries. Only 15.3% of participants correctly answered over 50% of the items. The average percentage of correct answers was 39.7%. For cases of mass burn injuries, 53.6% of nurses recognized oral fluid resuscitation to be an appropriate method. Pre-transportation intubation for suspected inhalation injury was indicated by 44.6% of participants. Meanwhile, only 5.4% of nurses gave the correct answer regarding burn triage. A significantly higher knowledge level was recorded among nurses who had attended training courses in the past (54.8 ± 10.5% vs. 38 ± 9.7% respectively; p < .001). Meanwhile, work experience and place did not influence knowledge level. To improve the burn emergency management of nurses, further and continuing education is highly recommended.