Burn Injury Cutaneous Functional Units: Allocating Occupational Therapy Resources and Influencing Practice

Area of Science:

• Burn care research
• Occupational therapy
• Rehabilitation medicine

Background:

• Current burn severity assessment using Total Body Surface Area (TBSA) overlooks functional deficits.
• Cutaneous Functional Units (CFUs) offer a more accurate measure of burn severity based on functional impact.
• Hands represent a significant portion of CFUs (81.3%) and are prone to severe functional consequences after burns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of Cutaneous Functional Unit (CFU) involvement in adult burn survivors with hand and upper extremity burns.
• To quantify the time occupational therapists dedicate to scar and soft tissue elongation techniques for upper extremity CFUs.

Main Methods:

• A study conducted at an American Burn Association verified burn center.
• Data collection focused on adult burn survivors with uni- and bilateral hand and upper extremity burns.
• Time spent by occupational therapists on scar and soft tissue elongation techniques was recorded per patient.

Main Results:

• Occupational therapists spent an average of 0.8 minutes per Cutaneous Functional Unit (CFU).
• The average total session time for upper extremity scar and soft tissue elongation techniques was 38.7 minutes (SD = 29.5).

Conclusions:

• The findings highlight the clinical utility of CFUs in assessing burn severity and guiding treatment.
• Results support optimizing occupational therapist time and resources for upper extremity burn care.
• The study provides evidence for increasing occupational therapy services and staffing for patients with hand and upper extremity burns.