Chapter 57: Management of Patients with Burn Injury - ML3

A client is scheduled for an allograft to a burn wound, and the client asks for an explanation. What information will the nurse include in the client teaching?

"An allograft is a temporary wound covering obtained from cadaver skin."

A manufacturing plant has exploded, and the nurse is assigned to triage burn victims as they arrive to the hospital. Which is the most important question for the nurse to ask prior to the arrival of victims?

"Are the burns associated with chemicals used in the plant?"

The nurse has completed teaching home care instructions to a client being discharged from the burn unit. Which statement from the client indicates the need for further teaching?

"As my wound heals, my skin will be itchy; I can apply lotion if scratching doesn't help."

When using the Palmer method to estimate the extent of the burn injury, the nurse determines the palm is equal to which percentage of total body surface area?

1

The palm represents which percentage of a person's TBSA?

1%

A person suffers leg burns from spilled charcoal lighter fluid. A family member extinguishes the flames. While waiting for an ambulance, what should the burned person do?

Have someone assist him into a bath of cool water, where he can soak intermittently while waiting for emergency personnel.

When assessing a client with partial-thickness burns over 60% of the body, which finding should the nurse report immediately?

Hoarseness of the voice

The nurse is caring for a client who has sustained severe burns to 50% of the body. The nurse is aware that fluid shifts during the first week of the acute phase of a burn injury cause massive cell destruction. What should the nurse report if it occurs immediately after burn injury?

Hyperkalemia

Immediately after a burn injury, electrolytes need to be evaluated for a major indicator of massive cell destruction, which is:

Hyperkalemia.

Which of the following is to be expected soon after a major burn? Select all that apply.

Hypotension Tachycardia Anxiety

The nurse is caring for a patient who sustained a full-thickness burn to his arm when he was scalded with boiling water. How did the nurse determine that the patient's burns are full-thickness burns?

Identification by the destruction of the dermis and epidermis

A child tips a pot of boiling water onto his bare legs. The mother should:

Immerse the child's legs in cool water.

The nurse is administering an analgesic to a patient with major burns. What is the recommended route for administration for this patient?

Intravenous

Which of the following is the effect of protein catabolism in a client with severe burns?

It compromises wound healing and immunocompetence.

Which of the following is the preferred IV fluid for burn resuscitation?

Lactated Ringer's (LR)

Which of the following is the analgesic of choice for burn pain?

Morphine sulfate

Which type of debridement occurs when nonliving tissue sloughs away from uninjured tissues?

Natural

The nurse is caring for a patient who sustained a major burn. What serious gastrointestinal disturbance should the nurse monitor for that frequently occurs with a major burn?

Paralytic ileus

The nurse knows that inflammatory response following a burn is proportional to the extent of injury. Which factor presents the greatest impact on the ability to modify the magnitude and duration of the inflammatory response in a client with a burn?

Preexisting conditions

A client brought to the emergency department has been exposed to smoke and flames from a house fire. What assessment finding is most important to the nurse in determining care of the client?

Presence of soot around nasal passages

Following a burn injury, the nurse determines which area is the priority for nursing assessment?

Pulmonary system

Which of the following fluid or electrolyte changes occur in the emergent/resuscitative phase?

Reduction in blood volume

A nurse is aware that after a burn injury and respiratory difficulties have been managed, the next most urgent need is to:

Replace lost fluids and electrolytes.

A client who has sustained burns to the anterior chest and upper extremities is brought to the burn center. During the initial stage of assessment, which nursing diagnosis is primary?

Risk for Impaired Gas Exchange

The nurse participates in a health fair about fire safety. When clothes catch fire, which intervention helps to minimize the risk of further injury to an affected person at a scene of a fire?

Roll the client in a blanket.

What laboratory value observed by the nurse is unexpected during the fluid remobilization phase of a major burn?

Serum sodium level of 140 mEq/L

The client is admitted with full-thickness burns to the forearm. Which is the most accurate interpretation made by the nurse?

Skin grafting will be necessary.

Which of the following is a potential cause of a superficial partial-thickness burn?

Sunburn

A patient has a burn injury that has damaged the epidermis. There are no blisters, and the skin is pink in color. This type of burn injury would be documented as which of the following?

Superficial

An explosion of a fuel tanker has resulted in melting of clothing on the driver and extensive full-body burns. The client is brought into the emergency department alert, denying pain, and joking with the staff. Which is the best interpretation of this behavior?

The client has experienced extensive full-thickness burns.

A nurse is preparing a care plan for a client burned over 36% of his body 2 days ago. Which clinical manifestation indicates that the client has progressed into the intermediate phase of burn care?

The client's complete blood count readings reflect a reduced hematocrit.

A nurse is required to monitor the effectiveness of fluid resuscitation in a client who is being treated for burns. Which of the following assessments would indicate the success of the fluid resuscitation?

The client's urinary output is 0.5 mL/kg/hour.

A client receiving emergency treatment for severe burns has just been assessed to establish the burn depth. Why is a nurse asked to reassess the burn depth after 72 hours?

The early appearance of the burn injury may change.

The open method (exposure method) of burn care, which exposes the burned areas to air, has been virtually abandoned since the advent of effective topical antimicrobials. It is still used on a small scale however. On which areas of the body are burns still being treated this way? Select all that apply.

The face The perineum

As the first priority of care, a patient with a burn injury will initially need:

a patent airway established.

The most important intervention in the nutritional support of a client with a burn injury is to provide adequate nutrition and calories to

decrease catabolism.

The most important intervention in the nutritional support of a client with a burn injury is to provide adequate nutrition and calories. The nurse recognizes this intervention is to promote

decreased catabolism.

A client with deep partial-thickness and full-thickness burns on the arms receives autografts. Two days later, the nurse finds the client doing arm exercises. The nurse provides additional client teaching because these exercises may:

dislodge the autografts.

Specific potential complications are common to specific types of burns. Which burns can impair ventilation?

face, neck, chest

A client has a burn on the leg related to an engine fire. When the burn area was assessed, it was determined that the client felt no pain in the area and that it appeared leathery. How would the nurse document the depth of burn injury this client has?

full thickness (third degree)

A client who has been burned significantly is taken by air ambulance to the burn unit. What physiologic process furthers a burn injury?

inflammatory

Which antimicrobials is not commonly used to treat burns?

tetracycline

A client is brought to the ED with burns exceeding 20% of total body surface area. Which is the primary nursing intervention in the care of this client

Fluid resuscitation

A patient has a burn injury that has destroyed all of the dermis and extends into the subcutaneous tissue, involving the muscle. This type of burn injury would be documented as which of the following?

Full-thickness

Which type of burn injury requires skin grafting?

Full-thickness

A sample consensus formula for fluid replacement recommends that a balanced salt solution be administered in the first 24 hours of a chemical burn in the range of 2 mL/kg/% of burn, with 50% of the total given in the first 8 hours postburn. A 176-lb (80-kg) man with a 30% burn should receive a minimum of how much fluid replacement in the first 8 hours?

2,400 mL

A client has burns to his anterior trunk and left arm. Using the Rule of the Nines, what is the TBSA burned?

27%

A client received burns to his entire back and left arm. Using the Rule of Nines, the nurse can calculate that he has sustained burns on what percentage of his body?

27%

A client is brought to the emergency department with partial-thickness and full-thickness burns on the left arm, left anterior leg, and anterior trunk. Using the Rule of Nines, what is the total body surface area that has been burned?

36%

An emergency department nurse is evaluating a client with partial-thickness burns to the entire surfaces of both legs. Based on the rule of nines, what is the percentage of the body burned?

36%

The nurse is planning the care of a patient with a major thermal burn. What outcome will the nurse understand will be optimal during fluid replacement?

A urinary output of 30 mL/hr

A nurse practitioner administers first aid to a patient with a deep partial-thickness burn on his left foot. The nurse describes the skin involvement as the:

Epidermis and a portion of deeper dermis.

Which of the following measures can be used to cool a burn?

Application of cool water

Initial first aid rendered at the scene of a fire includes preventing further injury through heat exposure. Which intervention could contribute to tissue hypoxia and necrosis and therefore should be avoided?

Application of ice

In a client with burns on the legs, which nursing intervention helps prevent contractures?

Applying knee splints

A client with a severe electrical burn injury is treated in the burn unit. Which laboratory result would cause the nurse the most concern?

BUN: 28 mg/dL

What quick assessment technique should the nurse use to assess the percentage of burn injury?

Compare the client's palm with the size of the burn wound

The nurse provides care for a client with a full-thickness, circumferential burn of the left lower leg. During the nurse's initial shift assessment, the client is resting and the physical assessment of the left lower extremity is unremarkable. One hour later, the nurse notes the pulses of the left lower leg cannot be obtained by a Doppler ultrasound device, and the capillary refill of the left great toe is greater than 2 seconds. What is the nurse's best response based on the clinical findings?

Contact the primary care provider and prepare for an escharotomy.

Which type of burn injury involves destruction of the epidermis and upper layers of the dermis as well as injury to the deeper portions of the dermis?

Deep partial-thickness

A nurse helps a health care provider treat a full-thickness burn on a patient's hand. Prior to treatment, the nurse documents the appearance of the wound as:

Dry and pale white.

The spouse of a client who was struck by lightning asks the nurse why the areas involved seems so small but the damage is extensive. Which is the best explanation from the nurse?

Electrical burns usually follow an internal path.