Mortality differences and speed of wound closure among specialized burn care facilities.

Burn patient mortality rates at 11 major American burn care units were investigated and were found to differ substantially after carefully adjusting for patient mix at each participating burn facility. The adjusted mortality rates differed by as much as a factor of two. Institution speed of full-thickness burn wound closure was found to be significantly associated with mortality experience, with lower mortality associated with quicker wound closure. The data analyzed were from the National Burn Information Exchange (12,000 cases).