Open versus closed management of burn wounds in a low-income developing country

Over a 38 month period, 264 patients were admitted for management of burns at the Emergency referral hospital in the resource-poor West African country of Sierra Leone. 244 charts and records were available for review, and 196 met the study's inclusion criteria. For the first 27 months, 158 patients were treated with the closed method and for the last 11 months of the study, 86 patients were treated with the open (exposure) method. Overall, the open method had as good or better early outcomes than the closed method, at significantly lower costs, and is the recommended treatment for burns in this particular type of environment.