National Burn Awareness Week, Feb. 4-10

February 27, 2024 • 3:46 p.m.

National Burn Awareness Week was observed Feb. 4-10. The Blocker Burn Unit is a national burn center as verified by the American Burn Association, and it was the first in the nation recognized in 1994. The purpose of burn center verification is to maintain burn center quality by promoting patient safety, cost containment, regional education and outreach, injury prevention, innovation, research and advocacy.

The BBU specializes in the treatment and care of adult patients with burn injuries. Our colleagues at Shriners Children’s Texas, also located in Galveston, provide the same high standard of care for pediatric patients with burn injuries and also are recognized as an ABA-verified burn center.

Burn care is a subset of trauma care with approximately 450,000 burn injuries in the United States annually, leading to 45,000 hospitalizations. In 2021, the U.S. southern region had over 74,000 cases, which was two times higher than the other four regions.

The road to recovery

As a burn center, we strive to provide high-quality patient care to burn patients from the time of injury through rehabilitation.

Optimal burn care requires a cooperative, multidisciplinary care team approach across the many surgeons, nurses and physical, occupational and respiratory therapists on a case. There’s often also nutrition services and case managers involved as well. The shared goal of recovery is to have the patient return to his or her pre-injured state as much as possible.

Patients unfortunately endure prolonged and painful recovery periods with an estimated recovery time of approximately one day per 1 percent of their total body surface area burned. Because of this, their recovery times can extend into months, especially for large injuries, with maximal recovery extending to years and even a lifetime in some circumstances.

Burn care providers have a unique perspective with these patients. They exhibit a high degree of empathy, compassion and mindfulness centering on limiting complications and enhancing recovery.

Burn care access and education

Our burn center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients may present directly to the Galveston Emergency Department, where they will be triaged and directly transferred to the burn center for evaluation and management. Patients also can request a clinic appointment via the burn unit’s website or by calling (409) 772-8384 during business hours.

Health care facilities that do not have the capability to provide care to burn-injured patients can and should refer and transport patients to our burn center. Referral criteria includes second-degree burn injuries greater than 10 percent total body surface area, all third-degree burns, inhalation injury, electrical burns, chemical burns, burns to face, hands, feet, genitalia, perineum or over major joints, as well as burns with comorbidities and/or trauma injury. Referrals are coordinated by contacting UTMB Access Services.

As a verified burn center, we provide outreach education on fire safety and burn injury prevention, as well as routinely host Advanced Burn Life Support classes. To coordinate educational opportunities, contact Jason Sheaffer or Monica Huston.

—Jason L Sheaffer, nursing program director, Blocker Burn Unit

Prevention beats treatment any day

One of the most effective yet perhaps least appreciated considerations in burn care is prevention, as most burns are preventable.

Safety in the workplace includes adherence to protocols and sustaining the culture of “see something, say something,” as well as effective and timely response.

Home safety consists of annual inspection and maintenance of smoke detectors, checking temperatures on hot water heaters and careful supervision of children in the kitchen and outdoor cooking areas.

Extreme caution should be taken when using accelerants such as gasoline to burn trash and ground foliage, as they can commonly ignite in a flashback explosion, causing a flame injury.

Another safety consideration is regarding individuals who smoke while using oxygen. We receive dozens of patients per year who are injured by lighting cigarettes while connected to oxygen. While we advocate for smoking cessation, we particularly discourage the use of flame around an oxygen source.

—Jason L Sheaffer

Click on the links to meet the team: