Question

A 5-year-old female pulled a pot of boiling water from the stove. She has superficial and partial-thickness burns to her head, face, and anterior trunk. What percentage of her body surface area has been burned?

18%
27%
30%
36%

Answer 1

The percentage of the body surface burned is determined by the rule of nines; adding 9% for the head and face to 18% for the anterior trunk results in 27% total body surface area burned.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the percentage of body surface area that has been burned in the given scenario, we can utilize the rule of nines. For a 5-year-old child, the typical distribution of percentages differs slightly from those of an adult, but in general, for both the head and neck, it is roughly 9% of the body surface area and for the anterior trunk, it's 18%. Therefore, we can estimate:

• Head and neck: 9%
• Anterior trunk (front of the torso): 18%

When we add the percentages together, 9% (head and face) + 18% (anterior trunk), we get an estimated 27% of the body surface area burned. This is the most appropriate answer given the options provided.