A Single Institution's Surgical Care Model for Pediatric Burns With ≤10% Body Surface Area Involvement.

Small burn injuries are extremely prevalent in the pediatric population and continue to pose a challenge for clinicians. Despite their high incidence, a standardized algorithm for treating small burns does not currently exist, and care is often guided by clinical judgement and resource availability. The aim of this study was to explore the utility of a two-stage grafting technique, involving allograft and autograft, for treating small burns (≤10% total body surface area) in pediatric patients.

Deliberate Practice as an Effective Method for Reducing Diagnostic Error in Identifying Burn and Bruise Injuries Suspicious for an Abusive Injury.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an education intervention for reducing physician diagnostic error in identifying pediatric burn and bruise injuries suspicious for abuse, and to determine case-specific variables associated with an increased risk of diagnostic error.

Study Design: This was a multicenter, prospective, cross-sectional study. A convenience sample of pediatricians and other front-line physicians who treat acutely injured children in the United States and Canada were eligible for participation.

Assessing Pediatric Burn Wound Infection Using a Point-of-Care Fluorescence Imaging Device.

Wound infection is the most common complication among pediatric burn patients. When not treated promptly, burn wound infection may lead to delayed healing, failure of skin grafts, or death. Standard burn wound assessment includes inspection for visual signs and symptoms of infection (VSSI) and microbial sampling.

Timing of nanocrystalline silver-based dressing application: a retrospective single-center pediatric cohort study.

Recent evidence has demonstrated that silver has anti-inflammatory properties that are independent of the known antimicrobial ones. In our current model of care, nonadherent, nonsilver dressings are applied for acute presentations of pediatric partial-thickness burn injuries. The wounds are re-assessed after the progression phase (48-72 hours after injury), and silver dressings are applied.

Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the provision of pediatric burn care.

The COVID-19 pandemic had widespread effects on the healthcare system due to public health regulations and restrictions. The following study shares trends observed during these extraordinary circumstances to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of pediatric burn care at an American-Burn-Association verified tertiary pediatric hospital in Ontario, Canada. Pediatric burn patient data for new burn patients between March 17 2019, and March 17 2021, was retrospectively extracted and two cohorts of patients were formed: pre-pandemic and pandemic, through which statistical analysis was performed.

Burn data management and usage across Canada.

Introduction: While some countries collect burn clinical data as part of nonspecific trauma datasets, others have developed burn registries allowing for benchmarking of outcome and quality-of-care data. The objectives of this project are to characterize the current state of burn clinical data collection and analysis in Canada, and to explore the interest of Canadian burn centers in contributing to a nation-wide burn registry.

Methods: A 23-item mixed methods survey was created and delivered via REDCap® to burn directors of 22 burn centers across Canada.

Investigation of the "Surgical Cuts CO Laser Therapy Technique" to Treat Minor Burn Scar Contractures in Children.

Fractional carbon dioxide (CO) laser therapy has been shown to improve scar contractures following burns. However, the benefits of using other CO laser techniques to treat burn scar contractures are relatively unknown. This pilot study investigated a CO laser technique in which a series of perpendicular "surgical cuts" were created along the contracture.

Teaching undergraduate physical chemistry lab with kinetic analysis of COVID-19 in the United States.

A physical chemistry lab for undergraduate students described in this report is about applying kinetic models to analyze the spread of COVID-19 in the United States and obtain the reproduction numbers. The susceptible-infectious-recovery (SIR) model and the SIR-vaccinated (SIRV) model are explained to the students and are used to analyze the COVID-19 spread data from U.S.

Exploring the impact of anterior chest wall scars from implantable venous ports in adolescent survivors of cancer.

Background: In children with cancer, port-a-caths (ports) are commonly placed in the right anterior chest wall, leaving a visible scar when removed. The psychological impact of port scars on survivors is unknown. It is unclear whether alternative sites should be considered.

Pruritus in the Pediatric Burn Population.

Postburn pruritus is a significant issue that can have a devastating impact on patient quality of life. Despite its known negative impact, few studies have focused on the pediatric population. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the incidence of pruritus among pediatric burn patients as well as identify its predictive factors and commonly used treatments, including the novel use of laser therapy.

Surviving an Extensive Burn Injury Using Advanced Skin Replacement Technologies.

There have been significant improvements in the technology available for treating extensive burns in the past decade. This case presents two unique, skin replacement technologies that were used to treat an 86% surface area flame burn in a pediatric patient. A temporary dermal replacement, known as "Novosorb™ Biodegradable Temporizing Matrix" was first used to stabilize the burn injury and remained in place for approximately 3 months.

Determining the Independent Risk Factors for Worse SCAR-Q Scores and Future Scar Revision Surgery.

Background: Scar revisions have been increasing in number. Patient-reported outcome measures are one tool to aid scar modulation decision-making. The aims of this study were to determine patient, scar, and clinical risk factors for (1) low SCAR-Q Appearance, Symptom, and Psychosocial Impact scores and how this differs for children; and (2) the potential need for future scar revision surgery to better identify such patients in a clinical setting.

Resident Exposure to Aesthetic Surgical and Nonsurgical Procedures During Canadian Residency Program Training.

North American residency programs are transitioning to competency-based medical education (CBME) to standardize training programs, and to ensure competency of residents upon graduation. At the centre of assessment in CBME are specific surgical procedures, or procedural competencies, that trainees must be able to perform. A study previously defined 31 procedural competencies for aesthetic surgery.

Psychometric Findings for the SCAR-Q Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Based on 731 Children and Adults with Surgical, Traumatic, and Burn Scars from Four Countries.

Background: Each year, millions of individuals develop scars secondary to surgery, trauma, and/or burns. Scar-specific patient-reported outcome measures to evaluate outcomes are needed. To address the gap in available measures, the SCAR-Q was developed following international guidelines for patient-reported outcome measure development.

Canadian Plastic Surgery Resident Operative Experience in Hand Surgery.

Purpose: Core procedural competencies (CPCs) in hand surgery have been previously described. However, it is unknown whether plastic surgery residents receive sufficient operative experience with these procedures. This study aimed to determine whether Canadian plastic surgery residents are receiving adequate exposure to CPCs in hand surgery during residency training.

Variable Experience in Microsurgery and Flap-Based Procedures Among Canadian Plastic Surgery Residents.

Title: Variable experience in microsurgery and flap-based procedures among Canadian plastic surgery residents.

Objective: Plastic surgery residencies are transitioning toward a competency-based education model. It is not known whether trainees can realistically achieve proficiency in microsurgical techniques during their training.

Surgical Fires and Burns: A 5-Year Analysis of Medico-legal Cases.

Surgical fires and unintended intraoperative burns cause serious patient harm, yet surveillance data are lacking in Canada. Medico-legal data provide unique descriptions of these events which can inform burn prevention strategies. We extracted 5 years of data on closed (2012-2016) medico-legal cases involving surgical fires and burns from the database of our organization which, in 2016, provided medico-legal support to >93,000 Canadian physicians.

Psychosocial and quality of life impact of scars in the surgical, traumatic and burn populations: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Despite the fact that millions of scars affect individuals annually, little is known about their psychosocial impact and overall quality of life (QOL) on individuals. Scars from multiple aetiologies may cause psychiatric and emotional disturbances, can limit physical functioning and increase costs to the healthcare system. The purpose of this protocol is to describe the methodological considerations that will guide the completion of a scoping review that will summarise the extent, range and nature of psychosocial health outcomes and QOL of scars of all aetiologies.

Quantification of Pediatric Burn Scar Stiffness Using Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Ultrasound Elastography.

The purpose of this study was to quantify the stiffness of hypertrophic scars using acoustic radiation force impulse ultrasound elastography. Sixteen pediatric patients with hypertrophic scars resulting from burn injuries participated in this study (mean age: 5.13, standard deviation: 3.

Rapid tissue viability evaluation using methemoglobin as a biomarker in burns.

Burns are a frequent cause of traumatic injury, accounting for an average of 1,230 visits to the emergency department every day in the United States. While many of these injuries will heal spontaneously, nearly 1 in 10 are severe enough to require hospitalization or transfer to a specialized burn center. The early surgical management of a severe burn is critical to patient outcome, but few tools exist for triaging viable and non-viable tissue at early time-points post-injury.

Toward the Assessment of Core Procedural Competencies among Canadian Plastic Surgery Residents.

Background: Plastic surgery residency training programs are working toward integrating competency-based education into program curriculum and training, a key component of which involves establishing core procedural competencies. This study aims to determine the exposure of graduating Canadian plastic surgery residents to established core procedural competencies.

Methods: A retrospective review of case log procedure data using three databases (T-Res, POWER, and New Innovations) from graduating residents at all 10 Canadian English-speaking plastic surgery training programs between 2004 and 2014 was completed.