The Essential Burn Unit Handbook

The Essential Burn Unit Handbook is a pocket-sized reference dedicated to the evaluation, diagnosis, care, and treatment of burn patients. It covers the spectrum of burn care, from initial assessment and treatment to long-term sequelae. This second edition includes an added chapter on the criteria for admissions to a burn unit as well as outpatient and follow-up care. It covers a wealth of topics that surgical residents, emergency medicine residents, and critical care fellows often encounter such as patient nutrition, the use of antibiotics, wound care, and some of the unique pathologic conditions seen in this distinct and often critically injured population. The book covers electrical burns, inhalation injury, chemical burns, and pediatric patient management. It also presents a full range of day-to-day management modalities along with sample orders and templates for patient presentation and the organization of notes. A quick-reference glossary includes many of the acronyms and abbreviations used in this setting as well as a list of useful equations and ranges. This book will help you provide better patient care while shortening your learning curve. It stands alone as the most convenient, practical, and informative guide available today for those working with burn patients.

The Essential Burn Unit Handbook is a pocket-sized reference dedicated to the evaluation, diagnosis, care, and treatment of burn patients. It covers the spectrum of burn care, from initial assessment and treatment to long-term sequelae.

The Essential Burn Unit Handbook is a pocket-sized reference dedicated to the evaluation, diagnosis, care, and treatment of burn patients. It covers the spectrum of burn care, from initial assessment and treatment to long-term sequelae. This second edition includes an added chapter on the criteria for admissions to a burn unit as well as outpatient and follow-up care. It covers a wealth of topics that surgical residents, emergency medicine residents, and critical care fellows often encounter such as patient nutrition, the use of antibiotics, wound care, and some of the unique pathologic conditions seen in this distinct and often critically injured population. The book covers electrical burns, inhalation injury, chemical burns, and pediatric patient management. It also presents a full range of day-to-day management modalities along with sample orders and templates for patient presentation and the organization of notes. A quick-reference glossary includes many of the acronyms and abbreviations used in this setting as well as a list of useful equations and ranges. This book will help you provide better patient care while shortening your learning curve. It stands alone as the most convenient, practical, and informative guide available today for those working with burn patients.

This book emphasizes the fundamental surgical, medical and related procedures involved in each stage of burn care, thus enabling the reader to focus on the essentials, and ensure the best outcome for patients. Chapters range from burn physiology, initial care and resuscitation, to wound evaluation and surgical management, respiratory and critical care, rehabilitation, reconstruction and aftercare. The book’s concise visual approach will appeal to all professionals caring for burn patients in acute or recovery phases.

Despite a decreasing number of burns and improvement in mortality of burn patients in the United States, burn injuries are still frequent. Non-burn specialists such as emergency medicine physicians and primary care physicians will inevitably treat burn patients. In many instances, the first clinicians to see burn patients are non-burn specialists in the urgent care, emergency department, or primary care clinic, yet they typically do not have any formal training or exposure to burns in residency. As a result, many clinicians feel uneasy about managing burns even if the burn is minor. If a burn center is in a reasonable proximity, one can transfer the patient, but prior to transfer, or if no burn center is available, these clinicians may have to perform the initial management. It is important that they understand the basic principles of burn care. In times of burn disasters, non-burn specialists are needed to care for burn patients as burn centers can be quickly overwhelmed. They should be able to manage burn patients including stabilization, resuscitation and wound care. The text includes all current management available today for the care of burn patients. It is organized in a stepwise manner with clear information listed in sequential chapter formats. Chapter one offers the basic epidemiology of burn care while chapters three and four discuss the initial assessment and management. The chapter five discusses inhalation injury while the next three chapters focus on burn wound management including face and hand. The majority of chapters that follow center on a specific type of burn or burn patient. The last few chapters discuss aftercare including scar management and burn rehabilitation. Written by experts in the field, Essential Burn Care for Non-Burn Specialists is a valuable guide for any physician involved in burn treatment such as emergency physicians, primary care physicians, and general and plastic surgeons.

This volume covers the entire spectrum of acute burn treatment. Individual chapters deal with basic aspects of different burn mechanisms as well as the acute care of burn patients. Pre-hospital management, critical care and basic concepts of burn surgery related to the acute phase, as well as the use of skin and skin substitutes in early stages of therapy are addressed in this volume. Chapters on supportive therapies such as optimizing nutrition and fluid homeostasis, infection control and treatment, respiratory support and pain management complete the comprehensive approach to the patient in this early stage of treatment, while chapters on epidemiology, prevention and disaster management enable the reader to evaluate the given information in a broader context.

“A compelling blend of science, history and storytelling. Barbara Ravage has fashioned an enlightening, invaluable book.” —Stewart O'Nan, author of The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American TragedyThough each of us is just a spark away from being a burn victim, the public knows little and understands less about the world that patients inhabit. Pulling the curtains back on this private and sterile environment, Burn Unit is a riveting account of the frontline efforts—both modern-day and historical—to save lives devastated by fire. With unflinching urgency, Barbara Ravage follows an extraordinary team of healers at Massachusetts General Hospital, the cradle of modern burn treatment and the site of one of the best burn units in the world. From Boston's Cocoanut Grove fire of 1942 to the treatment of the victims of the Rhode Island nightclub fire in early 2003, we watch everyday heroes do their incredible but punishing work against the backdrop of history. Both a moving human drama and an engrossing scientific exploration of this little-known field of medicine, Burn Unit is an unforgettably powerful read.

The second edition of this practical guide offers a comprehensive summary of the most important and most immediate therapeutic approaches in the assessment and treatment of burn injuries. Taking into account age-specific needs in pediatric, adult, and elderly burn patients, several chapters on key issues – such as pre-hospital treatment, wound care and infection control, burn nursing, critical care, burn reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation for burn victims – have now been updated. In addition, the book has been supplemented with the latest information on fluid resuscitation, organ support for burn patients, necrotizing soft tissue infections, and TEN/SJS. Written in a concise manner, the updated edition of this book provides essential guidelines for optimal care to improve patient outcomes, and thus will be a valuable reference resource for physicians, surgeons, residents, nurses, and other burn care providers.​