history
Last reviewed 01/2018
The fundamental history in the patient with major burns should be AMPLE:
- A - allergies
- M - medications
- P - past illnesses
- L - last meal
- E - events or environment associated with injury
Obtain as complete a picture as can be done quickly regarding:
- place of injury - enclosed with or without adequate ventilation, battlefield; gives clue to likely associated injuries
- time elapsed from injury
- burn:
- type of burning agent
- duration of exposure to burning agent
- type of clothing worn
- likely temperature of burning agent e.g. bitumen, recently-boiled water
- first aid to burn at site i.e. what was put on burn and for how long
- other injuries:
- penetrating: velocity of projectile; direction of travel in relation to patient; distance from patient
- blunt: speed of impact; region impacted; for car crashes whether seat-belt worn, ejection from car and likely speed of crash
- explosions: type of explosion; distance from explosion
- previous history:
- overall health
- possibility of non-accidental injury in a child