Background: Burns can cause long-term complications including pain and poor physical function. While neighborhood disadvantage is associated with burn severity, its effect on long-term complications has not been investigated. We hypothesized that patients from areas of higher area of deprivation index (ADI) will report poorer long-term outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHome oxygen therapy (HOT) is prescribed to patients with pulmonary dysfunction to improve survival and quality of life. However, ignition of oxygen can lead to burns with significant morbidity and mortality. Providers who routinely treat this patient population face an ethical issue: balancing the obligation to provide beneficial treatment to a patient with the responsibility to protect that patient from suffering avoidable burn injuries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This study aims to establish the significance of social determinants of health and prevalent co-morbidities on multiple indicators for quality of care in patients admitted to the Burn and Surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of population group data for patients admitted at the Burn and Surgical ICU from January 1, 2016, to November 18, 2019. The primary outcomes were length of hospital stay (LOS), mortality, 30-day readmission, and hospital charges.
The past decade has demonstrated increased burn wound infections with atypical invasive fungal organisms. The range of previously regiospecific organisms has expanded, and plant pathogens are increasingly represented. Our institution sought to examine changes in severe fungal non-Candida infections in our patients, via retrospective review of patients admitted to our burn center from 2008 to 2021.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood security (FS) is defined as access to sufficient and nutritious food. Children, especially those in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), are disproportionately affected by low FS. We hypothesized high FS would be predictive of decreased pediatric postburn mortality in LMICs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Children are uniquely vulnerable to injury because of near-complete dependence on caregivers. Unintentional injury is leading cause of death in children under the age of 14. Burns are one of the leading causes of accidental and preventable household injuries, with scald burns most common in younger children and flame burns in older ones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWomen are less likely to be senior authors, invited to write in scientific journals, and to be cited in high impact journals. The aim of this study was to investigate trends in authorship and gender differences in peer-reviewed burn literature over 13 years. We performed a retrospective analysis of original research articles published from January 2009 to September 2021 in three burn journals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSocial determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions where people live, learn, work, and play that affect their health and quality of life. There has been an increasing focus on the SDOH in the field of medicine to both explain and address health outcomes. Both the risk of burn injuries and outcomes after burns have been found to be associated with multiple aspects of the SDOH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBurn patients are unique because their recovery requires prolonged hospital admissions, often complicated by a myriad of medical and surgical complications as well as psychological and emotional challenges. Religion and spirituality have been linked to improved health outcomes in other medical fields. Our scoping review aimed to examine the available literature for evidence of the impact of spirituality on burns, complex wounds, and critical care to shed more light on the relationship between spirituality and the conditions treated by multidisciplinary burn center teams.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHidradenitis suppurativa (HS), also known as acne inversa, is a debilitating inflammatory skin disorder that is characterized by nodules that lead to the development of connected tunnels and scars as it progresses from Hurley stages I to III. HS has been associated with several autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and spondyloarthritis. We previously reported dysregulation of humoral immune responses in HS, characterized by elevated serum total IgG, B-cell activation, and antibodies recognizing citrullinated proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cutaneous manifestations of purpura fulminans (PF) present many challenges for clinicians and surgeons. In a state of septic shock complicated by limb ischemia, surgical interventions are necessary to control the pathological cascade and improve patient outcomes. The objective of this article was to report etiologies and surgical outcomes associated with cutaneous manifestations in adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHidradenitis suppurativa (HS), also known as acne inversa, is an incapacitating skin disorder of unknown etiology manifested as abscess-like nodules and boils resulting in fistulas and tissue scarring as it progresses. Given that neutrophils are the predominant leukocyte infiltrate in HS lesions, the role of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in the induction of local and systemic immune dysregulation in this disease was examined. Immunofluorescence microscopy was performed in HS lesions and detected the prominent presence of NETs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBurnout, defined by feelings of inefficacy, cynicism, and emotional exhaustion, affects the performance and well-being of health care providers. Burn care exposes providers to factors known to cause or worsen burnout, but no research has presented prevalence rates of burnout in this population. We estimate the rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout among nonphysician providers in a regional burn center and compare those rates to a reference population of critical care nurses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngiokeratomas are benign vascular ectasias that can present with bleeding or cosmetic concerns. We present an extreme case of Fordyce angiokeratoma. Usual treatment modalities, including medical management with analgesics and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, as well as laser treatments, were not viable options in this unique case.
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