Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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In Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), health care is provided for ∼26 million people dispersed across the eight million square kilometres of the two countries. Providing optimal care prior to and during transfer across such vast distances is challenging. Lengthening the time taken to definitive burn care has a negative impact on burn outcome. The aims of this study were to determine if transfer time and admission pathway influenced burn mortality and to identify the factors predicting burn mortality in ANZ. ⋯ In ANZ, pre-hospital transport systems and peripheral hospital stabilisation were not associated with an increased risk of death due to burn except when inhalation injury was present. The results of this study indicate that burn patients with inhalation injury should be stabilised and transferred to a burn service within 16 h of burn.