Children and adolescents victims of burns: characterization of risk situations to the development

Abstract

In Brazil it happens one million cases of burn every year, of the which 200 thousand is assisted in emergency services and 40 thousand its demands hospitalization. Although the prognostic for the treatment of the burn has gotten better in the last years, it still configures important mortality cause, besides resulting in morbidity for the development of sequels. This work aimed at to characterize the patients pediatric burn victim, assisted in the Metropolitan Hospital of Urgency and Emergency (HMUE) of the metropolitan area of Belém-PA, in one year; and to describe the contexts in that the accidents happened, identifying risk situations to the patient's development. They announced 164 companions of children/adolescents victims of burns. It was used: interview route semi-structured with questions on partner-demographic data and referring subjects to the accident that caused the burn, and route for analysis of the patient's handbook. The results point that most of the children/adolescents victims of burns was of the masculine sex (68%). Most stayed hospitalized by a period to 10 days or less (n=53). The causal agent that presented larger frequency was the category hot liquid (56,71%), in children about 1 to 4 years of age. The contexts in that the accidents happened they made reference to hot liquid, inflammable liquid, electricity, ash and fire. The lack of the caretakers' knowledge was evidenced concerning characteristics of the development of the children/adolescents, exposing the patient to risk conditions. The possibility of prevention programs is discussed, so much in primary level (parents' education about prevention of domestic accidents), as in secondary and tertiary level (minimize of the resulting sequels of the burn).