First aid treatment of burns

j williams

j williams

Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
11,135
I just got back from a staff meeting, where I just taught an inservice on pre-hospital management of burn patients. I was thinking I would pass on some of my lecture on to you guys.

I believe that in a survival situation, it is not to far out to believe that a burn is likely to happen. Whether you are in the desert and it comes from the sun, or are in a natural disaster and it comes from chemical or fire, or maybe even a plane crash or car crash. So you can see that it is something to consider from a survival perspective. It might be you that gets burned, or somebody in your party, or just a stranger in need.

First thing we need to look at is determining the severety(degree), and extent of burn(area). A critical burn is one to the face, hands, feet or genitalia. Or any burn that covers a good majority of the surface.

FIRST DEGREE
The least serious burns are those in which only the outer layer of skin is burned. The skin is usually red, with swelling and pain sometimes present. The outer layer of skin hasn't been burned through.
2279619377.jpg


SECOND DEGREE
When the first layer of skin has been burned through and the second layer of skin (dermis) also is burned, the injury is called a second-degree burn. Blisters develop and the skin takes on an intensely reddened, splotchy appearance. Second-degree burns produce severe pain and swelling.
90fe768e7705156c.jpg


THIRD DEGREE
The most serious burns are painless, involve all layers of the skin and cause permanent tissue damage. Fat, muscle and even bone may be affected. Areas may be charred black or appear dry and white. Difficulty inhaling and exhaling, carbon monoxide poisoning, or other toxic effects may occur if smoke inhalation accompanies the burn.
1a5870115117b196.jpg


OK. I am not gonna dive into the rule of nines, or serial halving, cause its tricky, and complicated. I will tell you that a palm is roughly 1% of th surface area. So you can use that to get a rough estimation of affected area.:thumbup: If your interested in the rule of nines, or serial halving, Email me, and I will do my best. I really dont think it has much to do wih survival type medicine, if you can recognize the severity and rough size of burn.

Now on to a list of DONTS when it comes to treatment of burns.

DONT

DONT APPLY BUTTER OR OINTMENTS, IT IMPEDES HEALING.

DONT BREAK BLISTERS.

DONT APPLY ICE, IT CAN CAUSE FROSTBITE.

DONT REMOVE BURNT CLOTHING.

DONT IMERSE IN COLD WATER, IT COULD BRING ON SHOCK.

Ok, you might be thinking, well Jake, WTF should I do then?????

Well. I think its important to look at some concerns you need to be thinking about when attacking treatment of a burned pt. The most important thing when understanding burns is avoiding hypothermia, and infection. The rate your body loses fluids makes hypothermia a real threat to your pts survival. The exposed skin makes infection a runner up in danger, and something to take in mind with long term care. We need to keep exposure to a minimum.

Serious Treatment is.....

You need to boil some water if you dont have access to sterile water. Let it cool to luke-warm, soak dressings in it, and wrap or cover affeccted area. This is where it gets kinda high-speed with a trick I lerned. Wrap saran wrap over the soaked dressing. It will provide a barrier to infection, and it will help regulate temp by decreasing the fluid loss. Cool huh?:cool:

Next elevate extremity above heart.:thumbup:

---------------------------------------------------

Now for minor burns,including first-degree burns and second-degree burns limited to an area no larger than 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) in diameter, take the following action:

Run cool water over site for 5 minutes. Cooling the burn reduces swelling by conducting heat away from the skin. Don't put ice on the burn.

Sterile bandage, no fluffy cotton. I would treat with wetted down dressings.:thumbup:

Pain controll is something you need to think about too if its available.

Fluid resuscitation is great if you have the means. W/O gettin into the complicated formulas for it, I will say a good number is 500cc over the course of an hour.

As always monitor for pulse, and breathing, and be ready for CPR if need be.

Now, this is only for tx of burns not related to chemical or electrical burns, which there are other things to consider. Wanna learn more????????:rolleyes:;)

And I will say, that I am not a DR, nor do I work in a burn unit. Of course their treatment is more advanced with drug therpy, scrupping the burn etc, but I think this will give all of you a good idea of what to do as first line care of burns.

Sorry if I bored you, and I will be happy to post another post on chemical burns, and electrical burns if you allwant me to add it in.:thumbup:
 
Last edited:
That's a great post man! Good info, good work summing it up in an easy to remember way. I agree with all of it (or rather it agrees with everything I've ever learned) :thumbup: Smart tip with the saran wrap!
 
Thanks bro, I added some pics to it. I think it is cool to not talk about the kits, but rather how to use them too.

Makes a case for carryin some saranwrap in your kit huh??
 
Thanks very much for this j williams.

Your list of Don'ts reads like a list of the things I would probably think to try in a burn situation. So, a valuable lesson learned.

All the best,

- Mike
 
Great thread! Thanks for the info. The more I can learn about first aid the happier I am.
Keep these types of threads coming please!
 
Thank you mentor. If you guys like these kind of things, I would be happy to make these threads regular appearances around here. I like doing the research, and passing on valuable tricks Ive learned. Keeps me sharp.
 
j williams said:
Thank you mentor. If you guys like these kind of things, I would be happy to make these threads regular appearances around here. I like doing the research, and passing on valuable tricks Ive learned. Keeps me sharp.
Click to expand...

Knowledge is a good thing. Keep us sharp as well.:thumbup:
 
Heard it at a lecture from the head of KU(UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS) Med centers plastic, and reconstructive surgery dept. It was a great seminar.
 
great stuff J.. you the man...:thumbup: i love this stuff... i remembered a lot of it from my EMT class... believe it or not...:o
 
Great post.
Thanks for sharing the knowledge. It is good to know first aid in a SHTF situation.
I would love to hear the stuff on electrical and chemical burns if you are willing to post it.
 
Last edited:
Great post, I would love to see more posts like this around here. This kind of information is really useful in a lot of situations. I particularly appreciate first aid knowledge because I work a lot around machinery and in shops and a lot of people I work with don't know much of this stuff. It is my intention to sometime soon take some sort of courses on this subject, it's good stuff to know.
 
Sweet post J. Williams! As a safety/medic nut, I really do think we need more like 'em here! Keep em coming!
 
Sure! Thanks dudes!

Well, lets start with electrical burns, b/c there is only a few differances. First you DO NOT touch the pt, untill you are sure that whatever shocked him is no longer a threat. Make sure your safe. That is priority one!!!!!!:thumbup:

After that the treatment is the same a treating any burn. There will be an entry burn, and an exit burn...... You also need to look very carefully at your pt. He/she might very well need CPR b/c of the sudden shock to the heart. Dont treat a dead persons burns. Check for responsiveness beforehand.:thumbup:

Ok. Chemical burns. Like before. Remove Pt from the scene. Protect yourself before rendering aid!

You are gonna need to remove the cause of the burn by flushing the chemicals off the skin surface with cool, running water for 20 minutes or more. If the burning chemical is a powder-like substance, such as lime, brush it off the skin before flushing. Taking care to avoid splashing it up at you, or brushing it into Pts eyes or whatever.

Remove clothing that has been contaminated by the chemical.

Apply a cool, wet cloth or towel to relieve pain.

Wrap the burned area loosely with a dry, sterile dressing. Rewash the burned area for several more minutes if the person experiences increased burning.

Again, these are just guidlines to consider in first aid. The pt will need to be looked at like any burn pt, IE fluid therepy, pain control, and minimizing risk of infection.:thumbup:
 
With electrical burns, you also need to consider that the electricity passed through the body, so the chances of internal injury is very high, and the cardiac disturbance could very well have stopped the heart. Also electric shocks tend to throw the victim, or cause them to fall. Which means look out for any fractures or Trauma associated with that.
 
j williams said:
OK. I am not gonna dive into the rule of nines. . .
Click to expand...

No kidding! It's still swimming in my head! Will still e-mail you about it though sometime. Thanks! :thumbup:

BTW, you echoing the saran wrap trick confirms what my instructor friend does. He has roll of it tucked small in his BOK!
 
Last edited:
Sure man. You aint kiddin, I prefer serial halving to the rule of nines though. Much easier!!
 
Awesome post Jake.

Makes me want to get into the EMT thing we talked about this past summer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top