Evaluation of earthquake-related wounds; example of a university.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: It is a holistic assessment of the forms of the first few piles of wound care. The right approach in this process directly affects the healing stages and treatment rates of the wound. OBJECTIVE: To examine earthquake injuries retrospectively and to contribute to the literature. METHODS: The data of patients who were treated in a university hospital between February 10 and February 21 after the earthquake were evaluated retrospectively using the wound evaluation formula. RESULTS: A total of 116 patients' wounds were evaluated. The mean age of the participants was 31 ± 19.5 (min = 1, max = 72), the mean wound follow-up day was 6.5 ± 3 (min = 1, max = 15), and the most common type of injury was crushing (45.7%).), the injury site was found to be the lower extremity region (73,3) the most. There were signs of infection in the wound area in 62.9% of the patients. The most signs of pocketing, exudate, and infection in the wound were found in amputation (p < 0.05). The wound type with the highest moisture content of the wound and healthy skin around the wound was found to be fasciotomy (p < 0.05). The highest mean percentage of black necrosis was found in crushing (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The study gives us information about the type and location of the injury and the condition of the wound bed. Earthquakes are among the disasters that cause the most loss of life and injury in developing countries such as our country. This study is one of the rare studies evaluating the wound and its features in the literature of our country, and more studies are needed in this area.