Burns

TEST TAKING TIPS

CLASSIFICATION

What are the 5 different causal categories for burns?

1. Flame: damage from superheated, oxidized air

2. Scald: damage from contact with hot liquids

3. Contact: damage from contact with hot or cold solid materials

4. Chemical: contact with noxious chemicals

5. Electrical: conduction of electrical current through tissues

What is a 1st-degree burn?

• Injury localized to the epidermis

What is a superficial 2nd-degree burn?

• Injury to the epidermis and superficial dermis

What is a deep 2nd-degree burn?

• Injury through the epidermis and into the deep dermis

What is a 3rd-degree burn?

• Full-thickness injury through the epidermis and dermis into the subcutaneous fat

What is a 4th-degree burn?

• Injury through the skin and subcutaneous fat into underlying muscle or bone

Identify the depth of the burn:

• A painful, erythematous burn with an intact epidermal barrier that blanches to the touch?

• 1st degree

• Painful burn with blebs and blisters; hair follicles intact; blanches to the touch?

• Superficial 2nd degree

• Sensation decreased; loss of hair follicles?

• Deep 2nd degree

• Leathery feeling, no sensation?

• 3rd degree

PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

What are the 3 zones of injury from a burn?

• Zone of coagulation, zone of stasis, zone of hyperemia

Define the zone of coagulation:

• Irreversibly damaged necrotic area of a burn where cells have been disrupted

Define the zone of stasis:

• Area associated with vascular damage and leakage that is immediately adjacent to the necrotic zone with a moderate degree of insult and decreased tissue perfusion that can either survive or progress to coagulative necrosis

Zone of hyperemia:

• Area of vasodilation from inflammation surrounding the burn with viable tissue where the healing process begins

EVALUATION OF BURN WOUNDS