Citation

Bayuo J. Burns 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.burns.2021.11.026

PMID

35248430

Abstract

I recently read with great interest a paper authored by Hughes et al., titled "Recommendations for burns care in mass casualty incidents: WHO Emergency Medical Teams Technical Working Group on Burns (WHO TWGB) 2017-2020″ [7] which provides detailed review and recommendations for burns management during mass casualties. The extensiveness of the recommendations is impressive offering practical guidelines for burn care during mass casualties. There is however an aspect regarding palliative care which requires further consideration.

Palliative care for burn patients remains a challenging endeavor and guidelines are generally lacking [2], [3]. The commencement of palliative/ comfort care in burns management often intersects with the end-of-life phase considering the short duration from decision making to withholding or withdrawal of care [3], [6]. Timing is therefore critical to ensure that persons with non-survivable burns are identified and provided with comfort care to alleviate the health-related suffering [2]. The decision making process to assign a patient to the non-survivable category is undoubtedly a difficult one as mentioned by the authors [7]. For patients in burn centers, palliative care teams if available will be able to offer support. For mass casualties, however, such form of support may be unavailable making it difficult to ascertain how palliative/ comfort care can be delivered under austere conditions...

Language: en