A Computer System for Classification of Burns and Determination of Fluid and Nutritional Needs for Burn Patients

Abstract

Background: The assessment and classification of burin severity and extent is very important for proper treatment. A computer system to assess burns seems to be crucial for the determination of fluid and nutritional requirements. The aim of the work: The objectives of this work are to design a computer system to assess and classify burns according to burn depth and extent and to implement the designed system for the assessment of fluid and nutritional needs using a database system for the automation of the entire process. Then test the computer system in reality through clinical application of the system on fifty patients with acute burn injury. Patients and Methods:This study was divided into two parts: Development of a burn management computer system [BMS]to facilitate the process of documentation, classification, and management of acute burn patients. The BMS contains three subsystems: Database, Classification, and Management subsystems. The second part was the clinical application of the system on fifty patients to test the efficacy, accuracy, and applicability of this system in comparison to the traditional method used at our unit. Results:Clinical application of the BMS has showed a reduction in the burn percentage calculation with 7.36%. It also decreased the amount of fluid calculated automatically by the system by about 7.28%, while the reduction in nutrition calculated automatically by the BMS was about 2.7%. Burn Management System has showed an overall shorter time in dealing with the cases. Conclusion: Clinical application of the BMS showed an accurate estimation of the burn percent, accurate and rapid calculation of resuscitation fluids and nutritional needs, and easy electronic documentation of patients’ data that required a minimal effort.

Keywords

• burn
• depth
• severity
• resuscitation fluids
• mhealth