O24.5 The determination of burned surfaces: how big is the difference?

Rationale: The determination of the extent of a burn injury is a complex process. To aid this process, plenty methods and tools have been developed. The aim aim of this work is to show how accurate experts are able to estimate surfaces by using standard methods “palm-rule”, “rule-of-nine”, “lund-browder-chart” or others. The question we want to answer is how the results correlates when experts use those estimation methods. Methods: For this survey we visited a german-speaking conference in Austria this January 2010 dealing with burns. We provided a questionnaire with 3 pictures of burned patients where we marked the areas to estimate with a yellow line. The questionnaire asked the participants about their used estimation method and their profession. Additionally we provided sheets with graphical representations of the “palm-rule”, the “rule-of-nine” and a “lundbrowder-chart”. The participation of 51 persons has been voluntarily and without financial payment. Results: As we didn’t know the exact results our self, we calculated the mean value of all attendants per patient as a basis for statistical variance analysis in different type of professions as well as in different used methods. The usage of the “palm-rule” and the “rule-of-nine” has been almost equal; the “lund-browder-chart” has only been used by 7 persons. Concerning the standard deviations of the different used methods, the best results have been archived by the use of the “rule-of-nine”. Concerning the standard deviations of the different professions, the best results have been archived by the assistant physician and physicians could reach the best results. Conclusion: The standard deviations of all three estimations reached from 42 to 62 percent. The usage of existing methods shows significant deviations of their results, even used by experts. In order to overcome those anomalies, the usage of more objective methods should be considered in future.