Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Clinical practice benefits from the measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) to reflect the impact of the disease and treatments from the patient's lived experience. The Brisbane Burn Scar Impact Profile (child and young person version, BBSIP8-18), developed in 2013, is a self-report measure of burn scar-specific HRQoL. The purpose of the study was to test reliability, validity and responsiveness of this measure for an evaluative purpose. ⋯ The BBSIP8-18 has acceptable reliability, validity and responsiveness supporting its use as an evaluative self-report measure of burn scar-specific HRQoL in the early post-acute phase after burn injury.
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Knowledge of the epidemiology of burn-related fatalities is limited, with most previous studies based on hospital and burn centre data only. ⋯ This study has identified the importance of examining all burn-related fatalities. If this is not done, vulnerable population subgroups will be missed and prevention efforts poorly targeted.
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Currently, chronic wounds and microbial resistance to antibiotics have led to search new healing agents. Combinations of natural products are widely practiced in traditional medicine and exhibited synergistic activity with increased efficacy in treating several pathologies. This study assays the antioxidant, synergistic antimicrobial and burn wound healing activities of Euphorbia honey and Allium sativum (garlic). ⋯ However, the mixture showed higher wound healing activity reflected by shorter epithelialization and wound contraction time, as well as, better histological recovery of the treated tissues. Our results also showed that burn wound healing is not affected by gender. Our findings support the idea of combining natural products as an effective therapy.
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The error rates of forensic techniques need to be evaluated. The charred body scale is a method for quantifying the level of decomposition in burned remains. 51 files containing photographs of burned pigs at different stages of decomposition were scored by nine participants. Each pig in the photographs was uniformly burned to a different level (Crow Glassman Scale levels 1 to 3). ⋯ Interobserver error, hence reliability, of the scores was tested using individual and average absolute agreement interclass correlations. The charred body scale is reliable for remains burned to a Crow Glassman Scale level 1 but not in higher burn levels. It is suggested that a universal scoring method be developed that accounts for multiple burn levels in a single case.
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Patient -reported experience measures (PREMs) are a valuable tool in assessing patient's subjective experiences within healthcare settings. They assist the evaluation and development of clinical services, and could be considered most useful when they assess elements of care pertinent to the specific health condition or clinical service. Currently there is no existing PREM to assess this in an NHS burns service. ⋯ While small, this pilot suggested that patients found the measure acceptable to complete and relevant to their care. It also yielded information not currently assessed by the service in any other format, appearing to promise utility for service development activities. Further work is needed to validate the tool and determine how its use could be implemented at a local and national level.