Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, SW10 9NH, UK.
Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, SW10 9NH, UK.
Burns. 2021 Nov;47(7):1556-1562. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2021.01.008. Epub 2021 Jan 30.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted healthcare provision in the UK and burns services have had to adapt to ensure the continuity of a safe care. As we return to "normality" we reflect on lessons learnt from our response to this pandemic. A service evaluation was performed from patient notes between March 23rd and May 8th 2020 and an anonymous survey given to patients attending outpatient appointments. 258 patients were referred to our burns service and 148 patients completed the survey. Eleven burns were caused by treatment or prevention of COVID-19. Patients delayed seeking medical attention due to concern of catching COVID-19 (36% adults, 8% children). There was a delay in referral of 17 patients despite them fulfilling the referral criteria. Infection rates were higher following delayed presentation (21% vs 6%). The majority of burns were managed conservatively (237/258). Dressing changes were performed at home by 32% of patients. The outreach team treated 22 patients. During the pandemic telemedicine has improved the efficiency of outpatient burn care and outreach nurses have enabled treatment of vulnerable patients. More must be done to raise public awareness of preventable causes of burn injury and to reassure them to seek help when burns occur.
新冠疫情对英国的医疗服务提供产生了巨大影响，烧伤科服务也不得不进行调整，以确保安全护理的连续性。随着我们回归“常态”，我们反思了从这次大流行应对中吸取的经验教训。我们对 2020 年 3 月 23 日至 5 月 8 日之间的患者病历进行了服务评估，并对接受门诊预约的患者进行了匿名调查。共有 258 名患者被转介到我们的烧伤科，其中 148 名患者完成了调查。有 11 例烧伤是由治疗或预防 COVID-19 引起的。由于担心感染 COVID-19，患者（36%为成年人，8%为儿童）延迟就医。尽管有 17 名患者符合转诊标准，但仍有延迟转诊。延迟就诊后感染率更高（21%比 6%）。大多数烧伤患者采用保守治疗（237/258）。32%的患者在家中进行换药。外展团队治疗了 22 名患者。在疫情期间，远程医疗提高了门诊烧伤护理的效率，外展护士能够为脆弱患者提供治疗。需要做更多的工作来提高公众对可预防烧伤原因的认识，并让他们在烧伤发生时放心寻求帮助。
