You have received a call from a junior doctor at a rural hospital awaiting retrieval for a 40-year-old male who has just presented with severe burns after a gas canister explosion.
How will you guide the junior doctor through the assessment of the patient? (Details about the management are not required).
Initial assessment of patient:
Examiners Comments:
A number of candidates gave long lists of investigations and personnel only available in a large centre- candidates were marked down for this though not failed if the rest of the answer was of an acceptable standard
Assessment of the burns patent in this SAQ scenario was made more flavourful by the additional complexity of telemedicine. What would you ask this junior doctor to look for, and how would you describe the findings over the phone? This is a pleasant variation on the same theme as Question 16 from the second paper of 2019, Question 26 from the second paper of 2016, Question 18 from the second paper of 2012, and so forth.
The BMJ had published a series of 12 articles, titled "the ABC of burns".
These are a valuable resource. Some are linked to below:
Devgan, Lara, et al. "Modalities for the assessment of burn wound depth."Journal of burns and wounds (2006) 5: e2.
Heimbach, David M., et al. "Burn Depth Estimation-Man or Machine." Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery 24.5 (1984): 373-378.
Johnson, R. Michael, and Reg Richard. "Partial-thickness burns: identification and management." Advances in skin & wound care 16.4 (2003): 178-187.