Assessment and Management of Acute Burn Injuries

Burn injuries can affect patients from all walks of life and represent a significant healthcare problem globally. The skin is the largest organ of the body and consequences of injury range of minor pain to severe end-organ dysfunction and even death. The acute assessment and management of burn-injured patients is a critical part of their short-term and long-term outcomes and often benefit from specialty, multidisciplinary care. Local wound care and appropriate excision and grafting are important parts of managing the functional, cosmetic, and physiologic derangements caused by burn injuries. Large burns also require judicious fluid resuscitation. Electrical, chemical, and inhalational injuries are less common than thermal burns but require additional care and are often associated with increased morbidity.