Data Collection in Burn Injuries - Rationale for BurnCase 3D

BurnCase 3D is a research project to develop software for data collection and automated encoding of diagnoses and operations. Its dataset overlaps those of many other collections and shows new ways to collect data. Its three-dimensional avatar, adaptable to the individual patient's height, weight, sex, and body type, reduces estimation errors even below the levels of other electronic systems and minimizes inter-observer estimation variation. In combination with other research programs, such as discerning the depth of burns by photo, it will increase objectivity in burn documentation. Its capacity to store body-surface conditions from multiple points in time allows easy comparison in long-term follow-ups and evaluation of the results of different treatment methods. The system can be used for automation of operation encoding. BurnCase Core is a computer program with basic functions for burn documentation, photo registration, and queried reports. Development now is focused mainly on interacting with hospital information systems to reduce the amount of data registration that must be done by hand and to reduce registration redundancy. The result of the research project should be the formation of an international burn database and an international research institute for burns.