How It All Started...
We had just been married for two months when my ex husband sustained second degree (deep partial thickness) burns to 40% of his body. One minute Joe was welding and the next minute he was covered with hot fuel oil. Joe was flown to a verified burn center in New Jersey, where he stayed for one week. Joe was taken to the "tub room" and scrubbed.... awake...with minimal narcoti
c. Joe and I talk often, and I still ask, "Were you really awake?” And every time, the answer is the same, "Jill, I was awake and remember every excruciating moment". When Joe was burned, I had just started nursing school and really had no idea of what burn care was and what it involved. The whole experience was horrific enough, but not the worst of it. You see as we fast forward to present day, thirty plus years later we find that this type of practice still exists in that institution and in many others like it across the country and around the world. Explanations of "You're going to have pain", "We worry about addiction", and "We'll talk you through it" are not at all acceptable and just not the truth. Since 2003, I have been delivering anesthesia to the burn patient population. The settings are in the operating room, the tub room, the patient's room and in the laser room. Being part of the team and delivering a solid and complete anesthetic is the goal to make dressing changes, pre and postoperative recovery and laser therapy as painless as possible. These techniques require vigilance, solid knowledge of pharmacology, the ability to "think outside the box" and not to being afraid to push pharmacotherapy beyond traditional limits. Burn Anesthesia Resources LLC was created to educate and share all of the aspects of the delivery of burn anesthesia.
