Do burn patients need burn specific multidisciplinary outpatient aftercare: research results

Abstract

In a cross-sectional study of patients 12–24 months after a burn injury, the need for a multidisciplinary burn specific outpatient clinic was examined in relation to aftercare consumption, physical and psychological problems. Four hundred and twenty nine patients were assessed by means of three self-report questionnaires: IES, SCL(PTSD-SL) and BSHS-SV-S. Results indicated that the current aftercare providers are almost exclusively medical doctors and that a quarter of the patients are dissatisfied with received aftercare. However, dissatisfaction about current aftercare was not the only criterion to determine whether patients wanted burn-specific aftercare. The severity of psychological and physical problems predicted interest in a multi-disciplinary outpatient clinic. Self-reported psychological and physical problems were found to be related to one another. Univariate logistic regression outcomes suggested that patients with serious psychological and physical problems are more likely to express interest in a burn-specific outpatient clinic, but that, in a multivariate regression analysis, physical problems and psychological problems measured on the SCL(PTSD-SLEEP) do not contribute to the prediction of the interest in a burn-specific outpatient clinic anymore once symptoms of PTSD are taken care of. Results suggest that psychological aftercare for burn patients needs to be improved. Possible steps to improve aftercare to meet patients' needs are discussed.