Introduction: Burns are one of the most common and painful injuries among babies and children. The pain endured during and in between treatment can be minimized with sedation. These sedations, however, are not without side effects and risks. Given the potential complications, we devised a Burn Analgesic Treatment Protocol that incorporates safe analgesia during burn treatment and throughout the day, thus minimizing the necessity for sedations.
Aims: Assessment of the effectiveness of the analgesic protocol by quantification of overall number of sedations needed for burn treatment and by assessment of the overall experience of the treating medical team exposed to burn care before and after implementation of the protocol.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of analgesic treatment regimens among admitted pediatric burn patients both before and after the implementation of our analgesic protocol was performed. Furthermore, questionnaires were given to the nurses of the treating medical team in order to better assess overall experience with the new analgesic protocol.
Results: A total of 87 patients were treated with the new analgesic protocol and 46 patients served as the control group. A significantly lower number of sedations were performed in the group treated with the new protocol compared to the control group (18% vs 30%, p=0.057). The questionnaires filled out by the treating nurses revealed an average score of 4.5 (between 1 - 5), indicating high satisfaction with the protocol.
Conclusions: Our new analgesic protocol allows for highly effective treatment of burn wounds while minimizing the necessity for sedations, thus increasing overall patient safety and reducing potential complications.