Burn Center team prepares for supportive care role
by Cindy AbolePublic Relations
Just as city and national emergency disaster plans were scrambled into place immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, so did a review of disaster plans at South Carolina's Level 1 Trauma Center.
MUSC
Burn Center nurses have responded to a national call for burn specialists
on behalf of the American Burn Association and the National Disaster Medical
System. The team is on standby to provide medical support following the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or any national emergency. From left are: Jackie
Atkinson, Janet Verhagen, Tammy Steplight and Luc Gagne.
Just as the attacks at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania were unbelievable to the eyes of most Americans, so was the sudden realization that droves of potential victims and casualties would require emergency treatment and care.
“In situations like these, good communications is key,” said David Barillo, M.D., associate professor of surgery and medical director for Burn and Plastic Surgery. The tragedy prompted Barillo to contact other burn centers in the region and to meet with interim nurse manager Tammy Steplight and other burn staff to review burn mass casualty plans in the event that local facilities were needed to help.
Region IV of the American Burn Association covers the southeast.
By 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, David Mozingo, M.D., the region IV chairman, contacted all local burn center directors to confirm working phone numbers and e-mail. By noon, the national office of the American Burn Association (ABA) activated the Burn National Disaster Response Plan. The plan was concep-tionalized more than a decade ago as preparation was made to support the onslaught of U.S. military casualties expected as a result of Operation Desert Storm. All burn centers, including the MUSC adult and pediatric centers were immediately contacted and asked to make beds available. Several hours after the attacks, the ABA was able to provide Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with a list of all available burn beds nationwide.
Planning continued on the local level. At 1:30 p.m., the burn center in Richmond, Va. sent ground units to assist with Pentagon casualties. Plans were made regionally to transport any overflow of patients from Richmond to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at Chapel Hill, N.C., and finally any overflow from Chapel Hill to MUSC.
By the following morning, it was apparent that the surviving burn victims could be handled at the existing burn centers in Washington D.C., and that transfer would not be necessary. The New York City burn centers were not yet requesting assistance, so Barillo contacted the Burn Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, in nearby New Jersey and offered to send a burn team of surgeons and nurses for support. Saint Barnabas, is located 15 miles west of New York, had sufficient staff to cover the emergency and did not require further assistance.
“We're
fortunate that all of our centers and burn physicians know each other through
training and specialty work,” Barillo said, who is also a Lt. Colonel in
the U.S. Army Reserves. “Many of us trained together at the Army
Burn Center in San Antonio, and the burn world is really a small place
where it's easy to know one another very well.”
Days after the attacks, the ABA made a plea to its member hospitals for burn care nursing support on behalf of the FEMA and the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). A majority of MUSC's burn nurses volunteered and signed up with the NDMS to make themselves available.
“Within a burn team, each person has an important role,” said Tammy Steplight, R.N., speaking of the talents of the interdisciplinary team of burn center nurses, physicians, technicians, occupational and physician therapists, dietician, psychiatric liaison, continuing care manager, social worker and pharmacy doctorate specialist. “Each of us are committed to do our job everyday because we love it. If we can share that dedication and love with others, it's because we want to be a part of their care. We want to help out in any way that we can.”
All MUSC burn staff nurses are certified by ABA in advanced burn life support. If called by NMDS, MUSC's first response team will include Steplight and two burn nurses who will work for two-week rotations, relieving permanent staffs who provide burn care support. To date, nursing assistance has not been requested.
“We know the emotions that they're feeling right now,” Steplight said, regarding the 33 New York City victims confirmed with second and third-degree burns. Of that number, 25 critically burned patients, suffer from 75 percent or greater body surface area burns. “The care can be so exhausting,” she said. “These patients are beginning their fifth week of care and are in transition from emergent care to the rehabilitation phase, which is a very difficult time. Our team has wonderful camaraderie working together and are very supportive to what they and patients go through together.”
“I'm flattered that we have been asked to participate and share our skills with other centers,” said Luc Gagne, a burn center nurse since 1998. “It doesn't matter where it happens, but a burn is a burn. The only difference may relate to location or even the treatment they receive. Their methods may be different, but that's part of our skill as burn nurses. And that's a lot to contribute. Our ultimate focus lies in helping the patient to get better.”
For now the team, like many others across the country anxious to help, must wait.
“Our people are experienced in jumping in to get the work done,” Barillo
said. “If the need is there, we will be ready.”