Knowledge on emergency management for burn and mass burn injuries amongst physicians working in emergency and trauma departments

A survey was conducted on 397 physicians working in Emergency and Trauma Departments of district and provincial hospitals in Vietnam. The contents of the survey were emergency care for burn and mass burn injuries. Results showed that only 39.8% of participants gave more than 50% correct answers. In the case of mass burn injuries, only 10.3% of participants gave correct answers for triage, and 71.8% of participants considered oral fluid resuscitation to be an appropriate method. In addition, intubation for suspected inhalational injury was indicated by 51.9% of doctors. Bivariate analysis showed that working experience did not remarkably affect knowledge level. A significantly higher knowledge level was recorded among doctors working at provincial hospitals compared to those working at district hospitals (47.9 ± 13.5% correct answers vs. 42.2 ± 14.8% respectively, p = .0001). Moreover, physicians who had attended training courses in the past had a significantly higher knowledge level compared to the others (53.1 ± 13.6% vs. 44.5 ± 14.2% respectively; p = .0003). Multivariate logistic analysis indicated that both these variables were independent factors that affect the knowledge of healthcare providers with p < .01. Further continuing medical education on burn management and mass burn injury response needs to be conducted for physicians, especially doctors working at primary hospitals