Question

A patient who has burns on the entire left arm and entire left leg would have what percentage of body surface burned?

Answer 1

The rule of nines measures the percentage of a burn and is used to help guide treatment decisions and becomes a part of the rules to define a transfer to a burn unit.

To solve:

An entire arm is 9 percent (4.5 percent each front and back)
An entire leg is 18 percent (9 percent each front and back)
= 9% + 8% = 27% of the body surface is burned.