Hospitals are shutting down burn centers

[marmar]

from AP, via Yahoo:


By BILL POOVEY, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago



U.S. hospitals are increasingly shutting down their burn centers in a trend experts say could leave the nation unable to handle widespread burn casualties from a fiery terrorist attack or other major disaster.

Associated Press interviews and an examination of official figures found that the shrinking number of beds is a growing cause for concern in this post-Sept. 11 world.

Experts say burn centers are expensive to maintain and often lose money because they are staffed with highly specialized surgeons and nurses and stocked with sophisticated equipment designed to ease patients' excruciating pain, fend off deadly complications and promote healing.

The number of burn centers in the U.S. has dropped from 132 in 2004 to 127, and burn beds have fallen from 1,897 to 1,820, according to American Burn Association records compiled from voluntary reporting by hospitals.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts the number of burn beds even lower, at just 1,500. And most of those are already filled, with the number available on any given day variously estimated at just 300 to 500.

"If something happens and we need the beds for burn patients, it is going to be a real catastrophe," said Dr. Alan R. Dimick, past president of the American Burn Association and founder of the burn center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Some states — Mississippi, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and New Hampshire among them — have no burn centers at all. South Carolina has only a children's burn center, and there are just a few dedicated burn beds in Maine, Alaska and Hawaii. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070807/ap_on_re_us/burn_bed_shortage;_ylt=Aj_VXrLQYxHhzpDZGMVBqJKs0NUE

[Bluebear]

1. This once proud nation, devolving. nt

[marmar]

2. I know....and it's a horrible thing to have to be a witness to.

:cry:

[Ian David]

6. Oh, you're over-reacting. It's not like the country is falling apart or...

Oh...

[Bluebear]

14. If I could recommend a post :)

[Ian David]

3. Let's pay for burn centers by imposing a sales tax on bombs! n/t

[marmar]

5. Hell, we'd have them all paid for from Iraq and Afghanistan alone....

:silly:

[underpants]

4. Most burns these days are meth related

so I was told by a ER nurse. Every burn is investigated to see if it is meth related. They tend to be.

[Bluebear]

8. Well, even if the burns are meth related, they must hurt like hell

It would be nice to have burn centers to treat them, along with the occasional stray kid who was playing with matches.

[underpants]

11. No no no don't get me wrong

I didn't mean that we shouldn't have burn centers I was just using this to mention something that was very surprising to me. That is all I meant by it.

[Bluebear]

12. It surprises me too

I gotcha :pals:

[jody]

7. IMO federal government should fund burn centers to handle patients from a "fiery terrorist attack or

other major disaster."

I don't believe it's a state or local responsibility to provide such specialized medical care that could hit any part of the U.S.

A central medical facility or facilities IMO is the most efficient and effective option given that we already have the capability to transport critical patients to a central medical facility as demonstrated daily from Iraq to Europe/U.S. military medical facilities.

[Ian David]

16. We can all just walk to the hospital at University of Kansas in Lawrence...

... and be sure to ask for Dr. Oakes.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Here's the key:

"Experts say burn centers are expensive to maintain and often lose money because they are staffed with highly specialized surgeons and nurses and stocked with sophisticated equipment.."

Yup. Burn centers aren't profitable.

[Bluebear]

10. Bingo, LL. nt

[marmar]

15. Nice translation of that graph, which is written in Bullshitese

:)

[DemoTex]

13. As a former airline captain & ALPA accident investigator, I am appalled.

The bean-counters strike again. I hope they or their loved-ones aren't victims of a survivable air crash just to die later, in agony, for lack of specialized burn units.

Another day; another outrage. Where does it stop? When does it stop?

[DS1]

17. Burns are the worst

I've got a knife in the center console of my car. If I'm trapped in my car and it's on fire and I can't cut myself out of a seatbelt with it, I'll cut my own throat before burning to death.

[Deja Q]

18. Note the phrase "highly specialized". So the next time you get burned,

tell them to go all the way and pump morphine into you while turning into a charcoal briquette. :(

[TwilightGardener]

19. Bad news indeed.

I used to work in ICU, and even floating ICU nurses to burn units was difficult to arrange--very specialized knowledge and techniques in burn care.