Nursing Guidelines for Burn Treatment

• Infection control measures are of utmost importance until complete healing. Infection is one of the most common and serious complications of burns:
• Standard infection control precautions (e.g., wearing sterile gloves when handling patients).
• Strict wound management (changing dressings, early debridement).
• Isolate “new” patients (<7 days from burn) from those in the recovery phase (≥7 days from burn).
• Antibiotics should not be administered unless there is systemic infection.

Infection is defined by at least two of the following four signs:

• Temperature > 38.5°C or < 36°C
• Tachycardia
• Tachypnea
• Increase in white blood cell count by more than 100% (or significant decrease in white blood cell count).

For systemic infections, initiate empirical antibiotic treatment:

• Intravenous Cefazolin:
• Children >1 month: 25 mg/kg every 8 hours
• Adults: 2 g every 8 hours
• Oral Ciprofloxacin:
• Children >1 month: 15 mg/kg twice a day
• Adults: 500 mg three times a day
• For local infections, in the absence of systemic infection signs, treat with topical silver sulfadiazine. Do not apply in children under 2 months of age.

Other Treatments

• Intravenous Omeprazole starting on day 1:
• Children: 1 mg/kg once daily
• Adults: 40 mg once daily
• Tetanus vaccination
• Prevention of thrombosis: low-molecular-weight heparin subcutaneously after 48-72 hours of injury.
• Physical therapy from day 1 (prevention of contractures) and pain relief are essential.
• Intentional burns (suicide attempt, assault): appropriate psychological follow-up.