The General Care of the Burned Patient

It is easier to write an article on the general treatment of a patient with burns now than it was two or three years ago. Much controversial matter appears to have been settled, and certain previously recommended procedures can be omitted or will be mentioned only to be condemned. There has been a healthy change in the attitude of surgeons toward thermal injury; the trend has been toward simplification and uniformity, with the burn being regarded as a wound which will react favorably to many of the fundamental surgical methods which are commonly used in other kinds of trauma.1If this point of view in local treatment is extended to include general care, one may consider that the burned patient differs in only a few respects from patients with other surgical conditions, and this difference is one of degree only. I wish to stress especially that the care of