| |
About burns and burn care
World-wide, burns are one of the leading causes of trauma-related death and years lived with disability.
A severe burn is life threatening and affects all main integrating systems in the body. The acute care
involves intensive care, surgical procedures, wound care, and mobilisation, all of which may cause both pain
and stress. Length of stay in hospital varies greatly depending on the medical state of the patient; some
patients spend up to a week in intensive care while others spend months up to a year in the intensive care
burn unit.
As the medical treatment has improved during the last decades, the survival rates have increased markedly. This
also means that more severely injured individuals require rehabilitation and that the potential risk of
adjustment problems after burns has increased. The process of rehabilitation often continues many years after
the burn and includes physical, psychological and social challenges. Even with optimal treatment, scarring is
inevitable after deep burns and permanent changes of appearance and physical function can occur. Post burn
psychological adjustment problems and psychiatric disorders are relatively common, especially posttraumatic
stress disorder and depression.
Although burns can happen to anyone, children, elderly and socially disadvantaged are risk groups, and far
more men than women are severely burned in industrialized countries such as Sweden. Another risk factor is
pre-burn psychiatric disorders which also increases the risk for a poor recovery afterwards.
|
 |
|
 |
|
Further reading
Project Parts ->
Senior scientists ->
Grants and other financial support ->
Current publications
Previous core publications within the network ->
About burns and burn care ->
Significance of the research ->
|
|