Profile of patients treated with Betadine cream and ointment in a major burn centre over a period of ten years (1986-1995).

The management of burns has shown substantial progress over the years. The application of an effective topical agent improves the healing rate of burns. Betadine cream and ointment have been used in all the burn admissions since 1986. The data collected over 10 years are analysed in this report. All the burn patients admitted were evaluated and the factors investigated included patient age, sex, cause of injury, extent of burn wound, length of hospital stay, bacteriology, multi-organ failure and mortality. A total of 6,056 patients were admitted to a 40-bed unit during the 10-year period. Sixty-two percent were adults and 37% children. There were 67.5% males and 32.5% females. Eighty-one percent were admitted directly to the unit. Intensive/high care admissions accounted for 19.2% patients. The major cause of injury was accidental scalding in 34.2% patients, and the majority (65.4%) stayed between 1 and 4 weeks in hospital. There were 452 deaths. This audit reviewing 6,056 sequential burn cases represents a 10-year experience of burn management, using Betadine cream and ointment as topical agent.