Perceptions of tap water temperatures, scald risk and prevention among parents and older people in social housing: A qualitative study

Comparison of the characteristics of hot tap water scalds and other scalds in Germany

BACKGROUND/AIM

Mortality associated with hot tap water scalds remains significant, owing to a lack of up-to-date regulations on tap water temperature. We aimed to evaluate the effect of hot tap water scalds on patients admitted to our adult burn intensive care unit (BICU), and compare them to those with other scald types.

METHODS

We enrolled patients treated for scalds at the BICU of Cologne-Merheim Medical Center from 1989 to 2014, and retrospectively analyzed their age, sex-specific differences, characteristics, length of hospital stay, number of operations, and mortality. Patients were categorized into two groups: patients with hot tap water scalds and those with all other types of scalds.

RESULTS

A total of 333 patients were enrolled. In 23.4% (n=78) of the cases, the scalds were associated with hot tap water. Such injuries were more commonly observed in older men than women. Hot tap water scalds involved a significantly higher total burned surface area (TBSA) than other scalds, with TBSA values of 24.0% and 15.9% for men, and 21.8% and 10.9% for women, respectively. Hot tap water scald patients had a greater number of surgeries and longer BICU stays (27.8 days vs 9.1 days), and significantly higher mortality values (30.8% (n=24) vs 4.7% (n=12)) than those with the other scald types.

CONCLUSIONS

Hot water scalds are associated with large TBSAs, long stays in the BICU, and worse outcomes compared to the other scald types.

Rigorous, robust and systematic: Qualitative research and its contribution to burn care. An integrative review

Qualitative methods are progressively being implemented by researchers for exploration within healthcare. However, there has been a longstanding and wide-ranging debate concerning the relative merits of qualitative research within the health care literature. This integrative review aimed to exam the contribution of qualitative research in burns care and subsequent rehabilitation. Studies were identified using an electronic search strategy using the databases PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Excerpta Medica database (EMBASE) and Scopus of peer reviewed primary research in English between 2009 to April 2014 using Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review method as a guide for analysis. From the 298 papers identified, 26 research papers met the inclusion criteria. Across all studies there was an average of 22 participants involved in each study with a range of 6-53 participants conducted across 12 nations that focussed on burns prevention, paediatric burns, appropriate acquisition and delivery of burns care, pain and psychosocial implications of burns trauma. Careful and rigorous application of qualitative methodologies promotes and enriches the development of burns knowledge. In particular, the key elements in qualitative methodological process and its publication are critical in disseminating credible and methodologically sound qualitative research.