Burn patients' pain experiences and perceptions

Burns are painful injuries associated with a long recovery. Patients may not be receiving sufficient pain management education to optimize their experience and recovery after burn injury. Therefore, we aimed to obtain patients' perspectives about the effectiveness of current burn pain education to inform future efforts.

We used a mixed-methods research design that included both inpatients and outpatients cared for at a single, American Burn Association-verified burn center. Participants were at least 14 years of age with an acute burn who received a minimum of two wound interventions. The interview was designed by clinician stakeholders using a modified Delphi technique and focused on patient respondent's pain experience, understanding and desire to gain knowledge concerning burn pain and its management. Descriptive quantitative analysis was performed on categorical data. Recorded interview segments were transcribed for content analysis.

Twenty-one adult burn patients were interviewed. Participants reported experiencing variable levels of pain and pain management effectiveness. Inpatients reported more severe pain than outpatients. Only 11% of inpatients reported having received enough pain information, compared to 50% of outpatients. Content analysis yielded 3 themes: patient's pain experience, range of expectations, and clinical information/services desired. Mental and physical effects were key factors in respondents' pain experiences, with many participants reporting mental anguish in addition to pain. Of participants who had pain expectations, most were matched by their experience (56%), although many individuals (44%) described higher pain levels than they anticipated. Positive experiences with the burn care team primarily revolved around receiving pain education from a provider, whereas negative experiences focused on wound care events. Participants desired more information on sleep and pain medications, alternative treatments, weaning and addiction risk, realistic expectations of recovery timelines, and available mental health services. Written (pamphlet) education ranked as the most desirable delivery method, followed by in-person and video education.

Burn patients reported variable pain experiences and a strong desire to receive additional pain education. This project informs key strategies to educate burn patients on pain: leverage the high-level of interest in pain to foster education, describe pharmacologic and alternative therapies, offer weaning plans and explanation of addiction risks.

Burn patients' perspectives help inform strategies and content creation for pain-related education materials that burn centers can provide to improve patients' experiences.

Project was supported in part by the NIH grant for Insight Student Research Program at the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (R25 HD094336).