World-first research on hand burn injuries
A world-first tool to track the long-term outcomes of hand burn injuries is one of the exciting projects to receive funding through the 2022 Anglo American Burn, Skin, and Wound Care Research Grants, in partnership with the RBWH Foundation.
Researcher Andrea McKittrick is the Advanced Specialist Occupational Therapist at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and has more than 16 years’ experience in burns care.
“During my career I have had consumers tell me the scar is not the problem, they can do most of their daily activities, but some things continue to cause disruption,” said Ms McKittrick.
Some of those problems include fine motor skill tasks such as turning a key in a car ignition, using trade tools, holding heavier weights; as well as skin and nerve sensations such as itching and tingling.
“Outcome measures are used to ensure we are delivering high quality health services, to measure change and effectiveness of interventions,” said Ms McKittrick.
However, there are no outcome measures specific for hand burn injuries which measure change over time.
“Given that burn recovery can be anywhere from 12-24 months (in general), this is a long time to measure change.”
The outcome measure will also allow patients to set goals for the activities they would like to do with their hands.
“The hands are how we interact with the world around us. We use them in almost every interaction we have – for example, holding a coffee cup, waving at friends and paying for items in the supermarket.”
The inaugural Anglo American grants were made possible through an extraordinary $1-million donation by the global mining giant, the largest corporate philanthropic gift the Foundation has ever received.
We are very fortunate to have such a world class facility in Queensland.
Our hope is that the donation will make a meaningful contribution to improving outcomes for all burns and trauma patients, through clinical research, innovation and ongoing patient support.
We have the utmost respect and appreciation for the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
- Anglo American’s Head of Corporate Relations and Sustainable Impact in Australia, Victoria Somlyay.
Ten grants in total were awarded to support burns research in the areas of acute management of burns, wound care, critical care, rehabilitation, scar management, pharmacology/therapeutics, psychology, nutrition and infection prevention.
Ms McKittrick’s research team, which includes clinicians from across Australia and New Zealand, as well as a number of consumers, is now in the final stages of its work.
“The tool will then be tested to ensure it measures what the team proposes it does and is suitable for use with individuals with deep hand burn injuries.”
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