A 365-day view of the difficult patients treated in an Australian adult burn center.

Although the effect of burns on mental health has been well examined, the aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of pre-existing mental health, drug and alcohol, and forensic problems in an Australian burn patient population; examine differences between these groups in terms of burns characteristics and healing; and also establish any patterns of presentation amongst these groups. Retrospective case notes of all the acute burn admissions, 273 patients, into a busy tertiary adults burn center in a full year were reviewed. Almost half of the patients admitted had underlying complex issues. Those with psychotic, forensic, and/or drug and alcohol problems tended to stay longer in hospital and required more procedures, despite burn sizes comparable with those in the general population. These patients also tended to sustain their burn injuries, and present to hospital, on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, rarely coming later in the week. Those with depression/anxiety had similar lengths of stay, number of procedures and random temporal presentations to the general burns population. Burn centers should be well staffed and educated in how to deal with patients with complex needs; this staffing should be actively structured to deal with a clear pattern of presentation over the weekend and Monday.