Abstract

Objectives: To assess the main challenges that hinder the adequate management of burns victims.

Methodology: A qualitative study was conducted at POF Wah Cantt between February 2018 to July 2018, for a duration of Six months. All hospital workers employed by the Burns Department, POF hospital were invited to take part in the study. A Focus group discussion (FGD) was held by the authors. The entire discussion was recorded and then transcribed verbatim. The discussion was conducted in English and transcripts were produced in English language. The main themes of the discussion were extracted from the verbatim and presented graphically.

Results: We identified some main challenges that hinder the proper management of burn victims including the lack of resources such as work force, free medication, advanced equipment, etc., and increased patient load. Other common challenges according to the health care workers were: i) lack of funds for research and clinical trials; ii) lack of application of new protocols and advanced treatment options; iii) improper counseling of patients; iv) unwillingness of patients to seek help from a mental health professional; v) delay in presenting to the emergency department vi) high rate of loss to follow-up; vii) lack of financial resources to continue medication and rehabilitation; viii) lack of budget to train doctors.

Conclusion: The study highlighted some of the challenges that hinder proper management of burns victims including unavailability of medication supplies, lack of advanced equipment, and increased patient load.

Keywords: Burn, Treatment, Developing, Low-income, Middle-income, Health care professional, Health Care, Resources