A personal digital assistant for determination of fluid needs for burn patients

In most instances, the treatment of major burn victims begins in the emergency room of the hospital closest to the accident site. It can be assumed that the emergency room personnel in most hospitals rarely see patients with major burns. Thus, their experience with burn fluid resuscitation is often limited. Yet it is critical that primary early treatment of burn injury with fluid resuscitation begin before the patient is admitted locally or transferred to a burn unit. To assist these individuals a fluid resuscitation calculation application has been developed to run on a hand-held personal digital assistant (Palm Pilot). This hand-held application is meant to assist in emergency situations where time is short, thoughtful computation is not possible, and a quick determination of fluid replacement therapy is important for the survival of the patient.