ABSTRACT
Patients with significant or complicated burn injuries are cared for in specialist burn centres where an experienced multidisciplinary team ensures that all aspects of care address the specific needs of this challenging group of patients. This chapter provides a brief overview of the ways in which patients with burn injuries differ from other patient populations. The days following resuscitation of a patient with a burn injury are marked by the significant systemic response to the release of inflammatory mediators, resulting in hypermetabolism and immunosuppression, as well as complications specific to the burn injury itself. Patients may not have received their calculated fluid amounts prior to transfer, or the extent of their burn injury may have been underestimated and so they have been undertreated. Patients are at risk of hypothermia due to a combination of the failure of the thermoregulating properties of skin, and heat loss via evaporation from wounds.
