Decreasing length of hospital stay by early excision and grafting of burns.

All acutely burned patients admitted to one surgeon's practice during a 1-year period were considered for burn excision and grafting. A total of 222 patients were enrolled; 57 did not have surgery. In all, 130 patients having surgery within 24 hours after admission were compared with 48 patients having excision later than this. Sex, age, burn size, number of operative procedures, and number of deaths were not significantly different statistically. The proportion of acute readmissions was not significantly different. The patients in the early excision group had a significantly shorter hospital stay for the first admission and for total length of stay for acute care, since if the length of stay for the first acute admission was added to the duration of hospitalization at any second acute admission, the early excision group again had a significantly shorter total length of stay. It appears that early burn excision (defined as within 24 hours of admission in this series) results in a reduced length of hospital stay without adverse effects on clinical outcome.