Question

The nurse is caring for a 120 kg male is brought in after a warehouse fire and is calculating the patient's fluid resuscitation needs. He has painful red blistering to the entire surface of both upper extremities and superficial burns to the anterior chest. Using the modified Lund and Browder chart to calculate the total BSA burned, how much IV fluids would be administered in the first 8 hours?

Answer 1

The nurse would use the modified Lund and Browder chart to calculate the total BSA burned and determine the fluid resuscitation needs. Different body parts are assigned specific percentages of body area, and these can be added together to calculate the total BSA burned. IV fluids would then be administered based on established guidelines for fluid resuscitation.

Step-by-step explanation:

The nurse would use the modified Lund and Browder chart to calculate the total Body Surface Area (BSA) burned in order to determine the fluid resuscitation needs for the patient. The chart assigns different percentages of body area to specific body parts, taking into account the patient's age. By calculating the percentage of BSA burned, the nurse can determine the amount of IV fluids that would be administered in the first 8 hours.

For example, if the chart indicates that the upper extremities make up 9% of the total body surface area and the anterior chest makes up 3%, the nurse would calculate the total BSA burned by adding these percentages together.

Once the total BSA burned is determined, the nurse would follow established guidelines for fluid resuscitation, which typically involve administering a certain volume of IV fluids per percentage of BSA burned.