Modern burn therapy started around the Second World War when penicillin, sulphanilamide and plasma became available for clinical use. They were effective solutions against the two most common deadly complications of extensive burns, infection and shock. In Europe, before 1940, a person with more than of their skin was most like to die. Now these patients can attain multi-disciplinary care in a well-equipped and highly specialized burn unit.

Immense enhancements have appeared since the 1940s, measurable by better healing time, lower mortality rates and restored functionality. This is due to the creation of burn research units, a better understanding of the burn injury and new, improved techniques.

The clinical team's main concern is not the burn scar or burn wound itself, but the burn victim's life-support systems for blood circulation and respiration. The burn victim can die from breathing problems or from shock. Shock is characterized by a decreased rate of circulation to vital organs. If there is not enough blood circulating to these organs, they are deprived of the oxygen they require to function. The shock's severity generally matches the burn area, that is expressed as a percentage of the entire surface of the body. There are respiratory issues if the lungs cannot provide enough oxygen to the organism. This is more likely if the burn victim has also suffered from smoke inhalation.

Smoke inhalation, shock, burn size and how much of the total burn is a third-degree burn determines a person's immediate possibilities for survival after a burn injury. The success rate of skin care interventions depends upon the age of the burn victim, the size of the lesion, and the severity of smoke inhalation damage.

Burns are classified by the the depth of the burn and the percentage of body area it covers. The burn injury is cleaned by hospital personnel one or two times a day and then dressed, usually with treatment products designed to destroy germs (a burn cream known as a topical antibiotic), bandages and gauze. Dressings implies anything the nurses apply on or around the wound. Paraffin-imbued gauze is adequate because it won't adhere to the wound. Modern transparent dressings are best, as the wound can heal beneath what seems like transparent plastic sheeting. The curing process can be monitored and the skin doesn't require to be disturbed so often and so heals more quickly. The transparent dressings are very expensive, but not if measured in terms of minimizing pain, less scarring and quicker curing. Conventional bandages can be washed and reused while plastic-like sheets are used once.