A Specially Designed Medical Screen for Children Suffering from Burns: A Randomized Trial of a Distraction-type Therapy

Abstract Objective To evaluate the impact of the specially designed medical dressing screen during wound dressing changes of children who suffered burns to their hand or foot. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Burns and Plastic Reconstruction Unit. Participants Children (N = 120) with burns on up to 1%-5% of the total body surface area. Interventions The patients were selected and randomly allocated to 3 equal-sized groups as follows:control group (N = 40): the children received only regular dressing changes; computer group (N = 40): a touch-screen computer was used for children during dressing changes; medical screen group (N = 40): a medical screen combined with the touch-screen computer were used for children during dressing changes. All patients underwent a dressing change once per day for four days. Data were distributed four times: immediately after the initial dressing change (T1); and immediately after each times at next three consecutive days (T2-T4). Main Outcome Measures The Pain level of the children evaluated by medical staffs was the primary outcome, the Pain level of the children evaluated by children's parents and the satisfaction of wound therapist were used as second outcomes. Results The mean scores related to pain level at the medical screen group displayed significantly better results than those of control group and those of the computer group. Additionally, the results of the pain evaluated by parents and satisfaction score of the wound therapist at the medical screen group was also better than other groups. Conclusions This study demonstrated “that the” application of the medical screen for burns can relieve the pain of 1-3 years old children suffering from a burns during dressing changes. Additionally, the application of the medical screen also increased the satisfaction of the parents and the wound therapist performing the dressing changes.