Parkland Formula for Burns Calculator

The 24-hour resuscitation period starts at the TIME OF THE BURN INJURY, not at hospital arrival or when the IV is started. If a patient arrives 2 hours after being burned, the "first 8 hours" of fluid (half the calculated total) needs to be given over the remaining 6 hours to stay on schedule, not stretched back out to a fresh 8-hour window.

The Parkland formula multiplies weight and %TBSA together (Total = 2 x weight x %TBSA at the current ABA-recommended rate), so the two inputs are mathematically symmetric -- a 10% increase in body weight and a 10% increase in %TBSA burned each raise the calculated total fluid volume by exactly 10%. Neither input structurally dominates the other; both matter equally to the formula.

No, not as the current primary recommendation. 4 mL/kg/%TBSA is the classic Parkland value this calculator is historically named for, and the 2008 ABA Consensus Conference treated 2-4 mL/kg/%TBSA as an acceptable starting range. But the current 2024 American Burn Association Clinical Practice Guideline states verbatim: "We recommend initiating resuscitation based on providing 2 mL/kg/%TBSA" -- a specific, lower starting point, not just the low end of an old range. This calculator's primary Total Fluid output now uses 2 mL/kg/%TBSA to match that current guidance, and reports the classic 4 mL/kg figure as a secondary reference. Whatever the starting volume, it should still be titrated against the patient's actual urine output.

The Parkland formula only sets a STARTING estimate. Once resuscitation begins, the hourly infusion rate should be titrated against the patient's actual urine output -- targeting roughly 0.5-1 mL/kg/hr in adults with standard thermal burns, not just a 0.5 mL/kg/hr floor -- rather than run strictly on the calculated schedule regardless of response. Under-resuscitation and over-resuscitation both carry real risks, which is why ongoing monitoring matters more than the initial number.

Not accurately, and its output shouldn't be used uncaveated for either case. This calculator implements the standard adult thermal-burn formula, valid for patients 30 kg and up. Pediatric patients under 30 kg need ABLS's separate formula: 3 mL/kg/%TBSA plus D5LR maintenance fluid, not this adult-oriented figure. Electrical injury needs both a higher starting volume (4 mL/kg/%TBSA, not 2) and a higher urine-output target (1.5-2 mL/kg/hr, to help clear myoglobin and other hemochromogens released by muscle damage) than the standard 0.5-1 mL/kg/hr thermal-burn target. This calculator does not implement separate pediatric or electrical-injury branches, so treat its output as not applicable -- not merely approximate -- for those two cases.