
MEC Connect
Tune into MEC Connect to hear MEC experts discuss the latest developments in workers' compensation. Drawing upon their extensive experience, they will share stories and practical tips that can help partners and employers discover innovative ways to create a better outcome in their program.
MEC Connect
Understanding Burn Injuries in the Workplace
Burns represent one of the most devastating workplace injuries, with treatment costs potentially reaching millions of dollars and recovery periods extending for months or even years. Diving deep into the world of severe burn injuries, this episode, “Understanding Burn Injuries in the Workplace,” MEC’s Senior National Catastrophic Medical Consultant Phyllis Ramondetta unveils the staggering reality behind workplace burns. The financial toll alone is eye-opening - from $207,000 for moderate burns to a jaw-dropping $10 million for severe cases with complications.
Understanding burn severity is crucial for appropriate treatment planning. With 63% of workplace burns involving thermal or scalding injuries, and manufacturing sectors reporting the highest incidents, the conversation explores:
- Why these injuries occur and how they can be prevented through proper safety protocols and training.
- The four degrees of burn severity and treatment landscape for burn care and rehabilitation.
- The recovery path after hospital discharge
- How modern medical advances transformed survival outcomes for patients.
For employers, healthcare providers, and safety professionals, understanding the complexity of burn injuries is crucial for both prevention and proper care management.
Listen now to gain essential insights that could save lives, reduce suffering, and mitigate the enormous financial impact of workplace burn injuries.
Hello, this is MEC Connect Expert Insights, a companion series to our main MEC Connect podcast for Midwest employers' casualty. I'm Sarah Hance and in these Expert Insights episodes, you'll hear from subject matter experts as they share practical tips and strategies on a variety of topics related to workers' comp and claims management. Today, phyllis Ramendetta, senior National Catastrophic Medical Consultant, will discuss burns. Now let's hear from Phyllis.
Speaker 2:Well. Thank you, sarah. As a catastrophic nurse case manager for over 20 years, I've worked with a lot of burn patients, from both mild to severe. This experience has provided me a lot of insights into burn care and rehabilitation. I would like to discuss some statistics about burns, some estimated costs of the treatment for some severe burns, and the types of burns and treatments as they relate to the workers' compensation industry.
Speaker 2:The American Burn Association reports most burns occur in the home or the workplace. The most frequent workplace burns are in high-risk areas, as you would anticipate, and most of them are exposed to heat, flame and electricity. The treatment for severe burns is focused on survival, with as much scar reduction as possible by using the appropriate grafting and surgical interventions which we'll get to later on. The cost of treating burns varies, however. Recent statistics from the American Burn Association reveal the cost for low-intensity treatment moderate burns for about $207,000. For severe burns without complications, you're looking at about $1.6 million and with severe complications it can go up from $5 million to $10 million. So we're talking about a pretty significant cost associated with these. I've seen patients with 80% body surface burns and they're hospitalized probably six months or more at a burn center and the bills can range up to $5 to $8 million and that will include the hospitalization, the rehabilitation and the therapies. 63% of the workplace burns involve thermal or scalding with hot substances or water. We can have flame burns or flammable liquid or gases inhalation injury from the smoke where it burns, the windpipe and into the lungs. Hot scalding liquids and also hot object electrical burns. So people that sustain an electrical burn can certainly it can affect many parts of the body. So most of the workplace burn injuries are seen from the manufacturing sector, as you might imagine, and these injuries are likely to occur due to inadequate safety training, also the employer's failure to enforce safety regulations and also employee noncompliance. So they're given all the protections that they need but they just don't use them and some people are just inexperienced in handling biohazard materials. The most important takeaway for the employers is to make sure that you have ongoing employee safety training. We've seen this type of repetitive training really really impact and reduce the workplace burn injuries.
Speaker 2:We want to get into a little bit on the degrees of burns, because people have heard first, second, third degree burns. So I'm just going to kind of go through those quickly just to kind of give you an idea. First degree burn is pretty superficial. It involves some redness of the skin and some blistering to the outer layer and these burns don't likely scar and they typically heal pretty quickly. The second-degree burns are partial thickness. There's some damage to the outer layer of the skin and they present with blisters and they're painful and they also may scar. These burns can damage the capillaries, the sweat glands and the nerve endings, so the increase in the risk of infection and scarring is a lot greater with second-degree burns and a deep second-degree burn may often require surgery or grafting procedures. The third-degree burn, which is called full thickness, and this will damage not only the skin but multiple layers underneath the skin and these burns are deep, they can damage nerves, they can damage tendons and muscles and that also goes to the bone. So on these skin grafting is almost always required and there's a very high risk for infection during the healing phase of these burns and also after. There's also substantial scarring and contracture that can occur with these burns. And there is another burn type which is a fourth-degree burn and this will involve muscle all the way to the bone and it can lead to sometimes loss or amputation of the burn body part. So the grafting and surgical intervention will be key here and it's going to be warranted in all of these cases. These are the most severe burns and it's going to have a long recovery time.
Speaker 2:Now that we've talked about the types of burns, I think we'll move into the treatment for burns. Now that we've talked about the types of burns, I think we'll move into the treatment for burns and, depending on the nature and the degree, the extent and the severity of those burns are going to be what the treatment is indicated. First-degree burns, like a sunburn or light flame burn, will be painful. However, treatment will be lotions and creams and no scarring will generally occur with these types of burns. The second degree burn is going to penetrate the hour later of the skin and it'll be blistering, it'll be wet, it'll have a shiny look to it. They're very painful due to damage to the nerve cells. So, depending on the depth of that burn, emergency treatment may be required and treatment will include debridement, removal of that burned skin and very likely, some type of grafting procedure. Scarin will likely occur after healing is complete.
Speaker 2:Mild to moderate burns can generally be treated at home and they should heal relatively quickly. But more severe burns may require a professional medical assessment and that will include sometimes a tetanus shot, pain medications, antibiotics, and the patient will be educated on looking for infection. Wound reopening or wound follow-up with a physician will likely be needed. But the third degree burn is going to destroy all the layers of the skin. These burns look very leathery in appearance and they have very little pain. Because of all of the pain receptors in the skin are destroyed. They require a lot of hospitalization, a lot of grafting and immediate medical attention is necessary for burns that cover the face, the extremities, your hands, your feet, involving large body surface areas or major joints like your wrists, involving large body surface areas or major joints like your wrists, your elbows, your knees, and those caused by electricity or chemicals. The other burns that require immediate attention are burns that affect the airway, with smoke inhalation and breathing difficulties.
Speaker 2:Treatment for severe burns typically involves admission to the hospital burn center for an assessment of the total body surface area and burn depth. The admission criteria to a burn center usually includes second or third degree burns covering at least 20% of the body. These patients may need ventilator support for respiratory distress. They will definitely need fluid resuscitation and they will be under constant metabolic observation. Early on. They will remove all the hard scabbing, the dead tissue of the burn, with repeated debridements during the hospitalization. Many types of grafting may be used, depending on the depth and location of the burned area. You have to keep in mind that recent advances in burn care have improved grafting outcomes, with the modern graft procedures providing much better burn coverage and a lot less likely to fail. Years ago you would find that a lot of these patients with 50% total body burns, there would be mortality there. They would die. But with all the modern conveniences of medicine these folks are living and having a very good life.
Speaker 2:There are many complications with these burns, as you can imagine. The most common is infection. It can lead to sepsis, which is an infection throughout the whole body. Non-healing wounds and pain management issues are also problematic in these folks. Other complications could be respiratory issues, scarring and then joint contractures where the scarring tightens and you can't open your arm or you can't open your wrist or your fingers. All of those things can happen as a complication and you have to remember a lot of these people aren't healthy, so they might have diabetes, they might smoke, they might have heart and lung disease. All of these are very complicating factors when treating a severe burn patient, and the more of those complicating factors you have, the higher the mortality rate with those folks.
Speaker 2:The patient will absolutely require physical and occupational therapy, and that generally starts immediately after surgery to try to start mobilizing the burned limb. And long-term care often involves physical and occupational therapy, compression garments to prevent scarring, potentially additional treatments like massage or laser or steroid injections, and a lot of them will require psychotherapy to address their trauma. There's going to be body image issues, depression and anxiety related to these injuries, as you can imagine. So, in closing, burns represent a very complex field in health care, with treatment costs for severe cases potentially reaching millions of dollars. So ongoing physical and surgical as well as psychological treatment is often necessary long after the initial hospitalization. So understanding the complexity of the burn injuries is crucial for providing effective care and support to burn survivors, and I thank you for listening today and hopefully you've picked up a few pointers on burn evaluations. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning in to MEC Connect Expert Insights. Here at MEC, we focus on what matters most worker recovery and better claims outcomes. Our skilled people, proven processes and innovative technology achieve measurable results and creates lasting value. We hope you found Phyllis' insights on burns valuable. Creates lasting value. We hope you found Phyllis' insights on burns valuable. Stay tuned for more from MEC Connect and more expert insights. Thanks for listening.