Parkland Formula
Time of injury, not time of arrival. The first half is still due by 8 hours post-burn.
Enter weight and burn area to see the volumes.
Using this safely
The clock starts at the burn, not at arrival. A patient reaching you three hours after injury still needs the first half completed by eight hours post-burn, so it goes in over five hours, not eight. This is the step most often missed.
Superficial (erythema only) burns are excluded from %TBSA. Counting them inflates the volume, and over-resuscitation carries real harm — compartment syndrome and pulmonary oedema, the pattern described as fluid creep.
The formula is a starting estimate. Titrate against urine output and the patient's response; do not simply run the calculated rate to completion.
Children need maintenance fluid in addition to the resuscitation volume — see the paediatric maintenance fluid calculator.
Some centres now start adults nearer 2 mL/kg/%TBSA and titrate up, to avoid the over-resuscitation seen with a fixed 4 mL start. Follow local burns unit practice.
Show formula
24-hour volume = 4 mL × weight (kg) × %TBSA (3 mL/kg/% in children)
Half in the first 8 hours from the time of the burn
Remaining half over the next 16 hours