A prospective observational study investigating all children presenting to a specialty paediatric burns centre

• Outpatient paediatric burns are under reported.
• Scalds are the most common mechanism of burn injury in paediatrics in Queensland.
• Flame burns are over represented and contact burns under represented in paediatric inpatients.

Aim and methodThe aim of this study was to describe the mechanism of injury and outcome of all children who presented to The Stuart Pegg Paediatric Burns Centre (SPPBC) with a burn injury in the year 2013. A detailed proforma was completed prospectively at time of presentation to hospital.ResultsDuring the one year period, 758 children with a median age of 2 years 3 months presented with a burn injury. Overall, 12.7% of patients (n = 96) were initially treated as inpatients. Similarities existed between in and outpatients. Over half the children admitted had a scald injury (53.1%). Whilst slightly higher than the outpatient scald rate of 43.1% there was no statistical significant difference. However, there was a significant difference between inpatients and outpatients with respect to other mechanisms of injury. Contact burns were under represented in inpatients (27.1%) compared to outpatients (44.5%), p < 0.05. In contrast, flame burns were over represented in inpatients, 11.5% compared to outpatients, 2.9% (p < 0.05).ConclusionPaediatric burns are a common cause of childhood injury. The majority of children present with small to medium sized partial thickness injuries and are managed as outpatients. In order to understand the true impact of paediatric burn injury and to develop appropriate targeted injury prevention campaigns, data repositories must include detailed information regarding outpatient paediatric burns.