Exam by body system

How to assess a burn (size and depth)

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)EMS (NREMT)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Burn size and depth decide treatment and transfer. Check the airway first.

Step by step

  1. Stop the burning

    Remove from source, remove clothing and jewelry, cool with running water for 20 minutes. [1]

  2. Airway

    Burns of the face, singed nose hair, soot, hoarse voice: risk of airway swelling. [1]

  3. Size

    Rule of nines in adults: head 9%, each arm 9%, front 18%, back 18%, each leg 18%. Patient's palm is about 1%. [1]

  4. Depth

    Superficial (red, no blisters), partial thickness (blisters, painful), full thickness (white or leathery, painless). [1]

  5. Special areas

    Face, hands, feet, genitals, joints, circumferential burns. [1]

  6. Keep warm and transfer

    Cover with clean dry dressing, prevent hypothermia, follow transfer criteria. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in VMS

In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

VMS cases that train this skill

30 VMS cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. NASEMSO National Model EMS Clinical Guidelines
  2. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint
  3. Stanford Medicine 25 (bedside exam)
  4. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts and steps also follow NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint; Stanford Medicine 25 (bedside exam). VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.