The Parkland Formula

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The Parkland Formula for burns was developed by Dr. Charles R. Baxter in 1968, when he realized that burn patients need a massive amount of fluids in the first twenty four hours to remain hemodynamically stable. Dr. Baxter and some other doctors came up with a fast and easy formula. The formula is 4mlxBSA(%)xWeight(kg), there are many examples online or using a smart phone to learn and use this formula. This formula works well in a hospital settings along with many other formulas I have learned about but in the field as a paramedic under a lot of stress dealing with a suaver burn patient it could be difficult to do this formula fast. The next few paragraphs I will be going over the types of fluids used for burn patients and a standard way that …show more content…

I believe the Parkland Formula is a good formula for a hospital setting. There are many other formulas out there to use but most of them are semular to the Parkland formula with as much math involved or more, some examples are the Evans Formula, Brooks Formula or Monafo Hypertonic Formula. These formulas are more designed for hospital settings using crystalloids with colloids over a period of time, this can be very helpful for the pt to replenish the patients fluids and to give the patient the best recovery after a major burn. In a prehospital setting this can be very hard to accomplish so that is why is don’t recommend any other formulas that I found. The system I prefer is form the Victoria Fire Department protocol over burns. The protocol has a standard system depending on the patients age to give an amount of fluids over an hour. This protocol uses normal saline instead of lactated ringers due to the department doesn’t carry lactated ringers. The protocol states to give two large bore IV's and infuse a total 124cc per hour of normal saline to pt that is less then the age of five. A patient from the age of six through thirteen give the pt 250cc per hour and a patient above the age 13 give the pt 500cc of fluid per hour. Why do I prefer this standard over other formulas is cause how easy it is to use and remember it takes the stress out of doing math during a stressful call. Using the patients age to determine the amount of fluids over his or her weight like in the parkland formula is easier due to if the patient is unconscious and his or her weight can not be

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