SAGE Diagram Documentation in Burn Patients in New Mexico: Room for Quality Improvement

Objective The first step in the management of burn patients is an accurate estimation of the body surface area. Based on percentage of body surface area involvement, burns are categorized as major (\u3e20%) and minor ( Methods This is a retrospective study of 327 consecutive patients from 2014-2018 at University of New Mexico Burn Center. Only patients undergoing surgical management were included. We recorded patient demographics, comorbidities, burn characteristics. The primary measure of interest was SAGE documentation and secondary measure of interest was outcomes associated with it. Results We found that SAGE diagram was completed on minority of patients 130 (39.8%). After comparing patients in SAGE group vs. No SAGE group we found that the patients were the same in both groups with regards to the demographics and comorbidities except adult patients with hypertension and hyperlipidemia (p values Conclusion Only a minority of patients get SAGE diagram documented. Although our study did show improved outcomes with the use of SAGE diagram. There is need for prospective studies to validate the utility of SAGE diagram in predicting adverse outcomes in major burns