Parkland Formula
Calculates initial crystalloid fluid resuscitation volume for major burn patients
- Highest activation tier
- Mandatory
- How it is scored
- Scored in code; a detected disagreeing draft value is flagged for correction
- Scoring type
- formula
- Care settings
- Emergency department, ICU, Inpatient
When it activates
Scribeable activates a calculator from the encounter. The Parkland Formula can activate when the transcript or pasted chart context documents any of these:
- Major burn resuscitation
- Burn fluid management
- Thermal injury assessment
- Scald burn treatment
- Burn center transfer criteria
A coded diagnosis can also activate it. ICD-10 prefixes carried by the registry: T20, T21, T22, T23, T24, T25, T26, T27, T28, T29, T30, T31, T32.
Note-type scope: it activates on notes whose subject resolves to emergency medicine, critical care, hospital medicine. A note that resolves to another subject does not carry it even when the clinician's specialty matches; a note with no resolvable subject (a generic consultation) falls back to the specialty match.
Inputs the note needs
2 inputs. Each is resolved from the transcript, the pasted chart context and charted labs; an input marked "asks you" is requested as a clarification when it is undocumented.
| Input | Type | Unit / options | Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient weight in kilograms | vital | ||
| Total body surface area burned (%TBSA, 2nd and 3rd degree only) | exam |
Scoring
Total volume (mL) = 4 mL × weight (kg) × %TBSA burned. Give first half over initial 8 hours from time of burn (not arrival). Give second half over next 16 hours. Use lactated Ringer's solution.
Interpretation
Formula provides starting estimate; titrate to urine output (0.5-1 mL/kg/hr adults, 1-2 mL/kg/hr children). Applied to 2nd/3rd degree burns ≥20% TBSA (adults) or ≥10% TBSA (children). First 8 hours calculated from TIME OF BURN, not time of presentation. Over-resuscitation risk: abdominal compartment syndrome, pulmonary edema.
Evidence
Sources carried in Scribeable's citation registry for this calculator; guideline version: Baxter CR 1968.
- Baxter CR, Shires T. Physiological response to crystalloid resuscitation of severe burns (Parkland Formula)Baxter & Shires (Parkland) 1968 · 1968 · link last verified 2026-03-28
How Scribeable handles it in the note
When an encounter activates the Parkland Formula at the mandatory tier, Scribeable resolves its inputs from the transcript, the pasted chart context and any charted labs, and asks you for a missing input you can supply before the note is finalised. Bedside-exam and separately ordered study values are not requested one input at a time; a calculator that carries a combined clarification question may still put that single question to you.
The score is computed in code from the resolved inputs, not recalled by the language model. If the draft states a Parkland Formula value that disagrees with the computed one, the disagreement is flagged to the second drafting pass, which is instructed to correct the score and its interpretation before you see the note.
Classified as a risk score: activated strictly, by a documented trigger, never by a permissive reading of the encounter.
See it activate on your own encounter
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