The management of severe burns in children

Abstract 

Outcome after burn injuries in children has substantially improved over the last few decades. Survival following burns of 100% surface area is now possible. All paediatric burns, regardless of size, should be considered candidates for treatment. Scalds are still a common childhood injury, but with new biological dressings they are not always the irreversible disfiguring injuries of the past. Four important and unresolved issues in paediatric burn care in the UK are: (1) the care of burned children in hospitals without burns teams; (2) inadequate numbers of critical care beds for children with burns; (3) morbidity after small burns (toxic shock syndrome is still leading to death in some children); and (4) the complete lack of a rehabilitation service for burn-injured children. This review will look at the demographics of burn injury in children, as well as current surgical and non-surgical therapies for these children. It will also consider ethical and political issues.

Keywords:  Burns, Paediatrics, Resuscitation, Critical illness