Increasing ambulatory treatment of pediatric minor burns—The emerging paradigm for burn care in children

Abstract Introduction Innovations in topical burn treatment along with a drive toward value-based care are steering burn care to the outpatient setting. Little is known regarding what characteristics predict outpatient treatment of pediatric minor burns and whether there is a temporal trend toward this treatment paradigm. Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed using California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development linked emergency department and inpatient database (2005–2013). All patients under 18 years of age with a primary burn diagnosis were extracted. Using patient and facility level variables, we used regression modeling to evaluate predictors of outpatient burn treatment and temporal trends. Results There were 16,480 pediatric minor burn encounters during the period. 56.4% were male, 85.3% had Conclusion Older patients and those with more superficial burns were more likely to be treated as outpatients. Black and non-white Hispanic race was associated with inpatient admission. There is a growing trend toward ambulatory treatment of minor burns in the pediatric population. Further research is needed to assess whether outpatient treatment of pediatric minor burns results in greater readmissions.