Advances in surgical techniques and wound management have improved outcomes for burn patients; however, the psychological impacts on burn survivors have had less attention. There is a higher rate of mental health disorders amongst burns victims, with those with pre-existing mental health conditions likely to have worse outcomes. To implement effective burns care and rehabilitation, knowledge and understanding of mental health issues is required. This position paper discusses the extent to which clinicians currently translate knowledge around mental health and burns into practice to identify enables and inhibitors. Successful knowledge translation requires dissemination and accessibility of information with the capacity and readiness for change. Clinicians and researchers need to identify how translating research to practice can meet the needs of burn survivors. There is a gap in the utilization of evidence concerning mental health and the needs of burns survivors, and we need to understand what we know as compared to what we do. Clinicians are well placed to determine how and why knowledge does not necessarily translate to practice and how they can better accommodate the needs of burn survivors.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	burns, implementation, knowledge translation, mental health, nursing recovery
Research Division:	Medical and Health Sciences
Research Group:	Nursing
Research Field:	Clinical Nursing: Secondary (Acute Care)
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Health and Support Services
Objective Field:	Nursing
UTAS Author:	Cleary, M (Professor Michelle Cleary)
UTAS Author:	Visentin, DC (Dr Denis Visentin)
UTAS Author:	West, S (Dr Sancia West)
UTAS Author:	Andrews, S (Dr Sharon Andrews)
UTAS Author:	Kornhaber, R (Dr Rachel Kornhaber)
ID Code:	126174
Year Published:	2018
Deposited By:	Health Sciences
Deposited On:	2018-05-28
Last Modified:	2018-12-14
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