4. Discussion
In taking a history following a scald injury one enquires about
the details of scalding agent, i.e. type of liquid, time interval
from boiling, whether milk or sugar was added, etc. This aids
the clinician in the assessment of burn depth and provides an
indication of likelihood of surgery and outcome. In order to
provide a more accurate indication of the temperature of the scalding agent this study examined the cooling rate of variety
of commonly used liquids.
The first sets of experiments were conducted in a
household kitchen setting to mimic a common environment
where such accidents occur. The cooling properties of a
number of liquids were assessed, including hot water, tea,
instant coffee, cafetie` re coffee, hot milk and oil. Additional
experiments examined the cooling rate of ‘‘Indian tea’’ and
chicken curries. Takeaway coffees were also analysed. The
agents outlined above were chosen to reflect the most likely
causative scalding agents within the population mix of the
United Kingdom.
In this study minimal difference was detected between
the cooling rates of hot water, instant coffee and tea. The
addition of sugar to coffee and tea did not affect the rate of
cooling. As anticipated, the introduction of milk into the
drinks resulted in lower temperatures. Cafetie` re coffee was
left to stand for 2 min before pouring and as a result the
starting temperature was lower than the other liquids but
cooling occurred at a similar rate. The speed at which milk
(soya, skimmed, semi-skimmed and full fat) cooled was
slower than other liquids and the higher the fat content the
slower the milk cooled. These results are supported by the
findings of Mercer [3] and Jamnadas-Khoda et al. [7] although
in our study a greater number of fluids in different settings
were examined.