Investigation of morbidity, length of stay, and healthcare costs of inpatient paediatric burns.

Burn injuries are the third most common cause of death in children due to trauma. Hospitalizations related to burn injuries are common. Prolonged hospitalization associated with burn treatment can result in increased resource utilization, leading to higher costs. Thus, it is essential to investigate these areas to reduce costs. The study investigated the morbidity and length of hospital stay of paediatric burn patients, as well as calculated the social security costs of hospitalization and treatment. The retrospective observational descriptive study examined the medical records of 774 paediatric patients treated in a burn intensive care unit at a tertiary medical faculty hospital between 01 March 2019 and 31 March 2022. The invoice records of payments made by the Social Security Institution to the hospital in return for health services provided to patients were examined. The healthcare costs were calculated. A total of 57.6% of the participants were boys and 79.2% were between the ages of 1-4. About 90% of the cases involved burns with a total body surface area (TBSA) of less than 20% and a 2nd-degree burn depth. Scalding was the most common cause of burns (88.2%). Among all patients, the mortality rate was 2.1% (n = 16). The mean length of hospital stay was 10.29 ± 9.59 days. The mean cost per day was 212.02 ± 190.94 US dollars ($US), and the cost per 1% TBSA was 241.70 ± 301.32 $US. According to the causes of burn injury, the mean cost of electricity was 5000.77 ± 8101.85 $US, fire 4818.02 ± 5852.22 $US, and chemical 3285.49 ± 4503.2 $US were observed in the first 3 ranks respectively. According to this study, paediatric burn cases occur due to preventable causes, and even though the mortality rate was low, the severity of burns, TBSA%, and presence of complications caused prolonged lengths of hospital stays, which caused social security costs to rise.

Comparison of the burnout among medical residents before and during the pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to compare the level of burnout syndrome in medical residents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify potential risk factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on medical residents from three different university hospitals in Turkey in March 2021, one year after the pandemic hit Turkey. Burnout is measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory which assesses three dimensions of it: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Collected data were combined and compared with data from a previous study which was held in the same hospitals in December 2019, three months before the pandemic. RESULTS: 412 medical residents from three universities participated. The mean age was 27.8 ± 2.4 and half of them were female. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, no significant differences in emotional exhaustion (pre:19.0 ± 7.6 post:18.8 ± 7.8), depersonalization (pre:7.3 ± 4.3 post:7.2 ± 4.4), and personal accomplishment (pre:20.8 ± 5.1 post:21.1 ± 5) scores were observed one year after pandemic. Adjusting for confounders, multiple linear regression models indicated that who are female, are in surgical specialty, have vulnerable cohabitant, and have more night shifts faces higher emotional exhaustion. Depersonalisation is higher among who spent more years in residency, have more night shifts, or COVID-19 outpatient duty. Females and those who have vulnerable cohabitant has lower levels of Personal Achievement. CONCLUSION: This study does not support the hypothesis that pandemic increases the burnout levels. Yet it identifies a couple of pandemic related factors that are associated with burnout and confirming the association of several previously known factors.