Impact of a Clinical Decision Algorithm on Length of Hospital Stay and Costs of Care of Burned Patients

Reliable and valid assessment of burn wound depth or healing potential is essential to treatment decision-making, to provide a prognosis, and to compare studies evaluating different treatment modalities. Clinical evaluation remains the most widely used method for assessing the depth of the burn wound. This method is based on the subjective evaluation of visual and tactile characteristics of the wound, with an accuracy ranging between 50 to 70%; which is not precise to guide clinical decision making. The aim of these study is to validate thermography as a therapeutic approach to predict treatment modality based on thermographic imaging of the wound and its healing potential obtained during the first three days of treatment of either healing by re-epithelization, requiring skin grafts, or requiring amputations. By performing this algorithm, it is expected to address three aspects of the management of patients with acute burns: early clinical diagnosis, initial management decisions and reduction of hospitalization days.