Trajectories to death in patients with burn injury.

Background: With unprecedented survival rates in modern burn care, there is increasing focus on optimizing long-term functional outcomes. However, 3% to 8% of patients admitted to burn centers still die of injury. Patterns in which these patients progress to death remain poorly characterized.

Pressure ulcers and risk assessment in severe burns.

Risk and incidence of pressure ulcers (PUs) in the burn population remain poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to determine the timing and incidence of PUs at our regional burn center and to identify early risk factors for PU development in burn patients. A retrospective review of 40 charts was performed from among the 1489 patients admitted to our regional burn center between January 2008 and December 2009.

Early withdrawal of life support in severe burn injury.

Despite many advances in modern burn care, deaths still occur in the burn intensive care unit. For patients with severe burns, providers may advocate to withdraw life support early during hospitalization when the extent of injury makes survival highly unlikely or when the patient's condition deteriorates during resuscitation. Our regional burn center has implemented a stepwise withdrawal protocol since 2001 in an effort to standardize symptoms palliation at the end of life.