Factors associated with deaths of burned patients in a community hospital

In a study of 310 burned patients, 27 of whom died, treated during a recent 3-year period, we have found that the following factors contributed to mortality: severity of the burn injury, advanced age of patients, race of the patients, cause of the burns, pre-existing medical problems, inadequate or inappropriate early resuscitative measures, and possible errors or oversights in the management of a few patients. Whether the patients were treated by general or plastic surgeons and whether the patients were "staff" or "private" appeared to have no significant bearing on survival or mortality. Death rates for the sexes were approximately equal. Deaths of patients who survived the immediate postburn period resulted mainly from pulmonary failure, renal failure, sepsis, and cardiac failure or from various combinations of these factors.