Estimating fluid therapy in burns..a simple formula

Use the rule of 10’s to start

  1. Estimate burn size to the nearest 10%.
  2. Multiply %TBSAx10 = Initial fluid rate in mL/hr (for adult patients weighing 40 kg to 80 kg).
  3. For every 10 kg above 80 kg, increase the rate by 100 mL/hr.

So let’s say we had patients of different weights with 27% burns, the calculated rates (mL/hr) for each of the approaches are:


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Emergency Medicine Kenya Foundation (EMKF) is a not-for-profit (NGO) public benefit organisation registered in Kenya