Burn Care for Children

Robert L. Sheridan, MD* 1. *Burn Service, Boston Shriners Hospital for Children; Division of Burns, Massachusetts General Hospital; and Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA Burn injuries are common in children. Management of these injuries and their consequences will be part of most busy general pediatric practices. Although most burns in children are small and can be managed with care provided in the outpatient setting, there is a significant number of children with more serious burn injuries whose acute and long-term management will involve a collaboration between the regional burn program and the child’s pediatrician. An understanding of the practice of outpatient small burn care is important. Also useful is a grasp of the concepts of inpatient burn care and long-term burn aftercare. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Understand the local and systemic physiologic changes caused by burns so that they can best understand therapeutic options. 2. Describe the essential components of outpatient care of small burns. 3. Grasp the essential components of inpatient care of more serious burns. 4. Develop an awareness that long-term physical and emotional outcomes can be enhanced through participation in burn aftercare programs that include scar management, burn-specific physical and occupational therapy, ready access to burn reconstruction, emotional counseling, and family and peer support. 5. Have an awareness of the nonburn conditions commonly treated in burn units. The first objective of this review is to familiarize the reader with the local and systemic changes caused by burns and relate these to the immediate and long-term practical needs of children who have experienced such injuries. The …