Saturday, July 5, 2003 | 2:39 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION: July 5, 2003
Summer is well under way and the staff of the University Medical Center's burn unit has been scrambling to keep up with a growing number of cases.
With just 10 beds for inpatients, the center is treating more burn victims on an outpatient basis due to the seasonal swell in cases of sunburn, radiator scalding and barbecue accidents, officials say.
"We always know the first few days that it's really hot we're going to have a radiator burn," Judith Hollett, clinical manager for UMC's burn care center, said. "You can tell by the way it burns the side of their face that they've turned away from (the radiator cap). So they know they shouldn't be doing it."
These and other less severe burns increase the caseload at the center, and put pressure on the few beds available.
"When it's this time of year, we take the most severe cases, and we would transfer out the least injured," Hollett said.
That means that people with first- and second-degree burns are moved out quickly to make room for patients like Julio Ramirez, who spent six weeks in the unit recovering from a gasoline accident that burned 45 percent of his body.
When he arrived at the hospital, Ramirez, 33, was not sure he would survive. Now he comes in for physical therapy three times a week, and he is walking more steadily every day. While Ramirez appreciates his outpatient care, he said he wishes he could have stayed at the hospital longer.
According to Hollett, recent technological advances have sped the recovery process and made outpatient care a more viable option for people with serious burns. A product called a biolaminate can be placed directly onto a burn, acting as a temporary covering and facilitating tissue growth.
"If we can put that on, they'll only be hospitalized one or two days, and then they'll be on an outpatient basis," Hollett said. There are limits to the new technologies, however. The biolaminates don't work on gasoline burns like Ramirez's, and his need for stronger pain medication was typical of patients who are released before they have fully recovered.
Hollett would prefer to treat more burn patients with inpatient care, where doctors can closely monitor their recovery process and respond immediately to any burn-related problems.
The UMC burn unit admits between 150 and 200 inpatients each year, but the number of outpatients has been rising. Between 2001 and 2002 the figure jumped from about 1,200 to over 1,500.
Hospital spokeswoman Cheryl Persinger said UMC hopes to break ground on a new burn unit in November, and doctors are looking forward to the 14 extra beds that should be ready in late 2005.
For now, Hollet said, the best cure is common sense.
"We've had people come in with very serious burns because they sat down on a leather seat, and unfortunately it doesn't feel that hot when they first sit down," Hollett said. "It seems like common sense, but people don't think of the outcome."
For those who do get burned, UMC's heavy caseload should not deter them from seeking care, Hollett said.
"Any burn that involves greater than 10 percent of their body or is in the hands, face or any moveable joint should be treated in a burn unit," she said.
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