97 Burns in the Military Setting- analyzing 12,799 Routine & Combat Cases

Burns are a major trauma source in the civilian and military settings, with huge impact on patient's well-being, health system and operation status of the force in the military setting. The purpose of our study was to summarize characteristics of all burn cases seen by the Israel Defense Forces primary care physicians during the years 2008-2016. This can help understand what causes most burns, in what units, at which stages and settings and consequently will allow commanders to make decisions regarding safety-rules, protective-equipment and uniforms, medical educations for soldiers, etc.Data were collected from the military database system. All burn related visits were analyzed using a designated big data computerized algorithm that used keywords and phrases to retrieve data from the database. 12,799 burn injuries were found presented in 65,536 burn related visits were analyzed according to the demographics, burn mechanism and military unit.It was observed that most of the burns (70.7%) occurred during routine non-combat setting and there was a gradual decrease in burn injuries during the investigated period, from 17.6% of the cases in 2008 to 2.3% in 2016. Most of the burns occurred in the Air-Force (19.4%), and the leading etiology was Chemical (35%). Average Total Body Surface Area (TBSA) was 7.5%.Since most of the burns occurred in a routine setting and were occupational related, investment in education, and improving fire-protection has proven itself, leading to the decrease in burn prevalence, we recommend that more emphasis should be given on proper handling of chemicals.