Abstract
Pain has a negative effect on patients’ physical activities. Patients with burns (aged 75 years and older) who were treated at Ina Central Hospital over the past 10 years were recruited in this retrospective study. Fifteen patients (60%) reported severe pain during body movement. Analgesics were administered to 7 (47%) patients. The average length of hospital stay of patients with pain was 35.4 days and that of those without pain was 31.0 days. There was no significant difference in the length of hospital stay between the two groups according to pain (p = 0.97) ; however, that of patients who received analgesics and that of those who did not was 47.6 days and 24.8 days, respectively, being significantly different (p < 0.05) .
In conclusion, insufficient pain control during patient mobilization may be one of the factors delaying discharge of elderly patients with burns. Burn nurses should objectively assess pain and encourage early team intervention to reduce the length of hospital stay of elderly patients with burns.
