Prospects for improving primary health care to children with thermal injuries

Introduction. Burn injury in children has been and remains one of the most significant cause of disability and death in the world. An important aspect in relation to the prognosis and course of the wound process is the quality of the first aid provided at the prehospital stage. Untimely diagnosed shock, inadequately prescribed anesthesia, attempts to perform surgical treatment of wounds at the site of the accident can fatally affect the prognosis of the disease.

Material and methods. A retrospective analysis of medical documentation of 328 children who were treated at the burn center from 2016 to 2019 was made. Selection criteria were: arrival to the center by ambulance, shock, transfer to ICU. To analyze actions performed in the prehospital stage, a number of parameters were identified: diagnosis, length of transportation, specialists in the ambulance team, TBSA (total burn surface area), thermal inhalation lesion, and others.

Results. The overwhelming majority of errors refer to diagnostics: shock (94.5%), incorrect TBSA assessment (63.7%), inadequate pain relief (61.9%), etc. A reliable correlation was revealed between ineffective analgesia and incorrect assessment of thermal lesion area. Life-threatening conditions develop in case of incorrect primary surgical treatment of wounds, incorrect vascular puncture, tracheal intubation, etc.

Conclusions. The revealed difficulties in providing the primary medical aid to burnt patients at the site of accident require the development of a clearer and more understandable algorithm for medical personnel who provide the first aid to children with burns.