Dexter®: A Tool To Facilitate Impairment Ratings

Calculating impairment in burn patients is crucial to understanding outcome. However, it is rarely reported after burns, presumably because the process of calculating impairment ratings is complicated and tedious. Computerized systems have been developed that facilitate the process, but it has not been established in burn patients that these systems reduce the time required to calculate impairment. We evaluated the Dexter Evaluation and Therapy System by Cedaron Medical Inc (Davis, CA). A sample of 10 manually recorded ratings was compared with 10 performed on the Dexter®. Mean time for the manual technique was 65 ± 35 minutes versus 37 ± 13 minutes for the Dexter® (P