Rehabilitation of the Burn Patient

Abstract

Burn rehabilitation begins the moment the patient contacts the healthcare system and, for many patients, it never truly ends. Returning severely burned patients to their pre-injury level of function has become more challenging, as more severely burned patients survive their injury. The need for rehabilitation does not simply correspond with burn depth, total body surface area involved, or injury severity. Other factors also impact need for rehabilitation, such as anatomic location of injury (eg, across finger joints, face), additional psychosocial strain from a house fire or having an injured loved one, or body image concerns related to visible scarring. To meet these and other challenges posed by burn injuries, rehabilitation requires a multidisciplinary team including, but not limited to, nursing, surgery, burn therapy, rehabilitation medicine, vocational counseling, rehabilitation psychology, psychiatry, and nutrition. Accord­ingly, verification as a burn center by the American Burn Association requires a goal-oriented, multidisciplinary rehabilitation program. This chapter broadly discusses the spectrum and integral components of burn rehabilitation. This review contains 13 figures, 8 tables, and 71 references. Key Words: burn, community integration, function, mental health, multidisciplinary, outcome, pain, quality of life, reconstruction, rehabilitation, therapy.