RESEARCH, EDUCATION & MEDICINE
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F I E L D M E D I C I N E
Assessment
Once a burn has been thoroughly cooled, a caregiver should
begin to assess the injury. There are three criteria that
guide assessment: depth, extent and location. Make notes
about each of these to pass along to paramedics, nurses or
physicians at the next level of emergency care.
Traditionally, burn depths were expressed as either first,
second or third degree. This was a source of confusion for
many, so those terms are falling out of favor. Burns are
now generally classified as superficial, partial thickness or
full thickness. Superficial burns are, not surprisingly, the
least severe of the three. They are characterized by redness,
warmth and sometimes swelling. Partial-thickness burns
involve deeper layers of skin tissue and are distinguishable
by the presence of blisters and severe pain. Full-thickness
burns affect all layers of the skin, destroying nerves and fatty
tissue. Full-thickness burns may appear black and charred or
white and waxy. They are sometimes described as painless
due to the fact that nerve tissue has been destroyed. While
this may be technically accurate, full-thickness burns are
most often surrounded by areas of partial-thickness burn,
and injured persons generally report intense pain.
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FALL 2011
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