Burn Care in the Rehabilitation Setting

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Video Runtime: 76 Minutes; Learning Assessment Time: 42 Minutes

A burn can be a devastating acute injury that transforms into a chronic disease due to lifelong changes in function and mobility. Therefore, rehabilitation nurses caring for burn survivors must understand the initial treatment and management of burn injury in order to maintain continuity of care for this population once transferred out of the acute setting. In addition, rehab nurses must understand long-term potential physical and psychosocial outcomes in order to provide the best patient education for burn survivors and their families. After providing an overview of the acute stages of burn injury and care, this course focuses on wound care and the prevention of complications while in the rehab setting. This course will provide introductory education on burns in four chapters mostly benefiting rehabilitation nurses. The chapters include an overview of burn injury, assessment of burns, rehab nursing implications, and long-term expectations. Other health care providers in the rehab setting may find this information useful, particularly if they have not had formal exposure to burn rehabilitation.

Meet your instructor

Sarah Murray

Dr. Sarah J. Murray started her career as an Army combat medic in 1993, then went on to become a registered nurse, graduating from Northwestern State University of Louisiana in 1998. Since that time, she has earned an MSN in adult health nursing from the University of Texas at San Antonio in the clinical nurse specialist role…

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Chapters & learning objectives

1. Overview of Burn Injury

This chapter will cover the basic epidemiology and most common etiology of burn injury in the United States. In addition, it will cover the special populations of children and elderly survivors of burn injury. The first chapter provides a wide overview of burn injury for the rehabilitation nurse and other health care providers on the rehab team.

2. Initial Burn Assessment and Treatment

This chapter will cover the basic pathophysiology of burn injuries: initial burn assessment and treatment in the acute phase, and the management options and potential complications. This chapter will help the rehabilitation nurse and other team members recognize acute complications that will impact rehabilitation and recovery.

3. Implications for Rehab Nurses

This chapter will cover the implications of burn injuries on survivors in the rehab setting, including common symptoms and treatment options, assessing for and recognizing complications, mitigating scars and contractures, improving nutrition, promoting wound healing, educating the patient on proper wound care, and providing psychosocial support. The main goal of this chapter is to foster the nurse-client-family relationship so the nurse can promote self-care for the client and family across settings.

4. Long-Term Effects of Burn

This chapter covers the potential long-term effects of burn injury, including disturbances in body image, reduced or challenged function and mobility, changes in roles and relationships, and psychosocial and mental health challenges that may impact community reintegration. Strategies to assist burn survivors and their families are discussed.

5. Community Reintegration

Community reintegration is the desired long-term goal for our patients. In this chapter, you will hear a reintegration story that provides an in-depth look into what the patient with a burn injury may experience throughout the recovery process.

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