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

Burn injury severity is currently determined by estimating the total body surface area (TBSA) burned, but this method fails to capture the severity of subsequent functional consequences. Alternatively, cutaneous functional units (CFUs)--skin segments that accommodate for movement and commonly become contracted--can be used to more accurately estimate burn severity based on functional consequences. Bilateral hands account for 81.3% of the body's CFUs, though only account for 5% of TBSA. However, hand burn survivors can have worse physical outcomes (ie, contractures, deformities) after burn injury, leading to subsequent loss of function, global occupational participation deficits, and poor psychosocial outcomes. This study, conducted at a verified American Burn Association burn center, explores how CFU involvement among adult burn survivors with uni and bilateral hand and upper extremity burns influenced occupational therapy practice in regards to time spent completing scar and soft tissue elongation techniques from the elbow to the digit tips per patient. The data showed, on average, burn occupational therapists require 0.8 minutes per CFU for an average total of 38.7 (SD = 29.5) minutes each session to complete scar and soft tissue elongation techniques to the upper extremities. The results of this study can be used to educate burn centers on the clinical utility of CFUs, burn occupational therapists regarding best-practice in terms of utilization of therapist time and resources, as well as support the justification for increasing occupational therapy services for patients with upper extremity and hand burns, and increasing staffing to meet patient need.