Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Surgical site infections (SSIs) are the most common hospital acquired infection in surgical patients, occurring in approximately 300,000-500,000 patients a year. SSIs occur across all surgical specialties, but have increased importance in abdominal, colorectal, obstetrical, gynecological, cardiac, vascular, neurological, transplant, and orthopedic procedures where either the inherent risk is elevated or the consequence of an infection would be severe. Current prevention guidelines reduce, but do not completely eliminate, the occurrence of SSIs. ⋯ Silver-nylon dressings are a useful adjunct in the prevention of SSI in colorectal surgery, neurological surgery, spinal surgery, and certain cardiovascular and orthopedic procedures. Gynecologic, obstetric, breast, transplant, neck, and bariatric procedures, and surgery in obese and diabetic patients, represent other areas where patients are at increased risk of SSI, but in which silver dressings have not been adequately evaluated yet. Recommendation is made for large prospective studies of silver dressings in these populations.
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This study sought to determine the awareness and attitude of doctors and nurses in a teaching hospital to skin donation and banking, and to identify needs for personnel educational programmes. ⋯ Knowledge transfer during health professional training on the usefulness of banked skin in patients with major burns may lead to improved attitude of health professionals and acceptance of this modality of burn management.
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Review
A review of treatment strategies for hydrofluoric acid burns: Current status and future prospects.
Hydrofluoric acid (HF), a dangerous inorganic acid, can cause severe corrosive effects and systemic toxicity. HF enters the human body via where it contacts, such as skin and mucosa, alimentary and respiratory tracts, and ocular surfaces. In the recent years, the incidence of HF burn has tended to increase over time. ⋯ Whereas, management of patients with HF burns remains a great challenge in some situations. To date, there has been no widely accepted protocol for the rescue of HF burns, partly due to the diversity of HF burns. This paper overviews the current status and problems of treatment strategies for HF burns, for the purpose of promoting the future researches and improvement.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effect of burn rehabilitation massage therapy on hypertrophic scar after burn: A randomized controlled trial.
To evaluate the effect of burn rehabilitation massage therapy on hypertrophic scar after burn. ⋯ Our results suggest that burn rehabilitation massage therapy is effective in improving pain, pruritus, and scar characteristics in hypertrophic scars after burn.
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Review
Self-burning - A rare suicide method in Switzerland and other industrialised nations - A review.
News items reporting self-immolation by Tibetans have been on the increase in recent years. After examining the corpse of a Swiss man who had committed suicide by deliberate self-burning, we wondered how often this occurs in Switzerland. The Federal Statistics Office (FSO) does not register self-burning specifically so no official national data on this form of suicide are available. ⋯ Our results showed that, on the whole, personal aspects of self-burning in Switzerland do not differ from those in other industrialised nations. Some data, including religious and sociocultural background, were unfortunately missing - not only from our study but also from the similar ones. In our opinion, the most important prevention strategy is to make healthcare professionals more aware of this rare method of suicide.