Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to O van Straten.
Splinting in burns is by no means a new subject, but this paper tries to demonstrate a new approach using new materials and sometimes humour. Conventional burn splints, dynamic and static, have been described in the past. All the following splints are made either with Mediplast, a new Israeli product, or Hexcelite.
The need for active range of motion in hand burns is obvious and through adapted games the patient's interest is aroused and provides an incentive for active participation in his/her therapeutic programme. All the games are for individual players, on different intellectual levels, and provide different active ranges of motion: for fingers, wrist, elbow and shoulder. Most of the games were made by a former patient, now retired, copied from games in the collection of the occupational therapist, and some of the games are of Israeli idea and manufacture. All the games can be gas autoclaved and therefore be used from patient to patient. The games also provide a much needed outlet for intellectual stimuli and distraction from the burns unit and all it signifies.
During the first 2 years of its existence, the Jobst Service of the Soroka Medical Center treated 150 patients, including 29 casualties of the Lebanon War, 1982, for postburn hypertrophic scarring. The Jobst pressure-gradient burn garments were successful in the control of hypertrophic scars, and in shortening the patient's rehabilitation time. The discussion stems from the perspective of the occupational therapist for treatment planning, paying special attention to the physical and psychosocial problems that confront the thermally injured patient, and to the need for total patient care.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Patients who have sustained thermal injuries may require tracheostomies as a result of facial burns; these operations may also be required after prolonged intubation for smoke inhalation injury or respiratory failure. For a patient with a temporary tracheostomy, speech may be achieved by occluding the opening of the tracheostomy cannula with the tip of a finger, thereby directing airflow through the vocal cords and allowing phonation to be produced. However, some patients who also have hand burns may not be able to cover the opening of the tube because of the injuries to their fingers and the bulky dressings covering them. A simple tracheal occluder can be made out of a ping-pong ball and a syringe casing. The device presented in this article allows for the restoration of speech in the types of patients described above, and it promotes purposeful movement of their upper extremities.
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