Citation

Smailes ST, Engelsman K, Rodgers L, Upson C. Burns 2015; 42(1): 163-168.

Affiliation

Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Mandeville Road, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP21 8AL, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.burns.2015.09.020

PMID

26508532

Abstract

The Functional Assessment for Burns (FAB) score is established as an objective measure of physical function that predicts discharge outcome in adult patients with major burn. However, its validity in patients with minor and moderate burn is unknown. This is a multi-centre evaluation of the predictive validity of the FAB score for discharge outcome in adult inpatients with minor and moderate burns. FAB assessments were undertaken within 48h of admission to (FAB 1), and within 48h of discharge (FAB 2) from burn wards in 115 patients. Median age was 45 years and median burn size 4%. There were significant improvements in the patients' FAB scores (p<0.0001), 98 patients were discharged home (no social care) and 17 patients discharged to further inpatient rehabilitation or home with social care. FAB 1 score (≤14) is strongly associated with discharge to inpatient rehabilitation or home with social care (p=0.0001) and as such can be used to facilitate early discharge planning. FAB 2 (≤30) independently predicts discharge outcome to inpatient rehabilitation or home with social care (p<0.0001), increasing its utility to patients with minor and moderate burns.

Language: en