Severe Burns: A Family Guide to Medical and Emotional Recovery.

Munster AM, ed. Baltimore, MD 21218-4319, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, hardback 246 pp, illus, $24.95

This text is directed at educating patients with burns and their families, friends, and caregivers about the process of recovery from burn injury. Of particular interest is the collection of contributors. The authors include all members of a typical burn team, as well as burn survivors who present their own accounts of recovery from burns. The firsthand accounts by the patients legitimize the hope of the authors, that this book will help sort out confusion and relieve some of the anxiety of patients with burns. Although this book is written especially for survivors of burn injury, many of the sections would provide physical therapists with a basic review of burn care and some insight to the thoughts of people who have been burned.

The book is divided into three major parts, "The Early Course of Bum Treatment," "The Road to Recovery," and "Looking to the Future." Each of these sections presents what patients, family, and friends can expect from the burn team, and what the patient and caregivers may experience, both physically and psychologically, during each of the phases of recovery of burn trauma.

The section on the early course of burn treatment includes coverage of burn wounds and potential courses of recovery depending on the depth of injury. Problems such as pain, infection, and surgery are presented in understandable terms. There is a section for family and friends that addresses the initial work of assisting the patient to survive, the patient's eventual long-term rehabilitation, and what to expect when the patient finally leaves the burn unit. Important information is presented about the different members of the medical staff and the types of equipment utilized in the intensive care phase of burn treatment. The book suggests certain questions the patient and family should ask and gives some explanation of frequently used medical jargon.

Part 2 is a well-written consideration of the chronic recovery from burn injury. This part contains information about physical rehabilitation, including the evaluation process, positioning, exercise, functional activities, gait, scarring, and rehabilitation following discharge from the burn unit. There are also enlightening chapters about reconstructive surgery and psychosocial rehabilitation, including the experience of trauma and the expected stages of psychological recovery.

The final part of the book addresses support systems for patients with burns, such as support groups, burn camps, and school programs. An excellent chapter on burn prevention incorporates suggestions for preventing burn injury in several settings. This chapter has valuable information that could be used by physical therapists to pilot community prevention campaigns. Three practical appendixes include information on first aid for burns, corrective cosmetics for patients with burn injuries, and a listing of all specialized burn treatment facilities in the United States and Canada.

This text would be a good reference for the library of physical therapists who treat patients with burns. The book presents a very realistic view of what may be expected following a burn injury and would be very suitable reading for patients with burns and their family, friends, or caregivers. The book would best serve its purpose if the physical therapist made it available to this group of people.