Best Burn Centers in US??

Specialties Burn

Updated:   Published

I was doing some research on http://www.ameriburn.org/ and reading as to where the top burn centers are. Can anyone shed any light on maybe the top 10 best in the nation are? or where to find that answer?

\ said:
Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio is the place where military burn patients go. People say they're pretty good at what they do too.

"And on the seventh day, He created Fort Sam Houston". I'm just sayin'...

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Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown is a fantastic burn center....

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Specializes in LTC.
mlbluvr said:
"And on the seventh day, He created Fort Sam Houston". I'm just sayin'...

Oh my goodness, I've only been inside two burn centers, but BAMC's unit was freaking beautiful.

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I can't say from a working standpoint where the best burn hospital is but from a patients standpoint I can.

When I was 12 I was burned severely to my front and back torso area all on my arms as well. The local hospital couldn't do nothing for me so they shipped me off to the Shiners hospital in Galveston Tx. I was THAT kid screaming as they scrubbed my skin away but I will tell you this I will NEVER forget the nurses that helped me there. They were so nice..they tried to put my mind at ease. That place was wonderful to me. This happened about 12yrs ago and I always praise this place when I can. So to those of you that go this path of nursing I just want to say Thank You because if because of people like you that is allowing me to one day (hopefully) work with people with addictions in nursing. :)

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Specializes in ICU.

There is also Parkland Hospital in Dallas, TX!

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Specializes in Ambulatory Case Management, Clinic, Psychiatry.

MGH just opened a new one/expanded on theirs in the past 6 months

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Specializes in Float pool.

I know Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Ga has one of the top ranked burn centers. It's a magnet hospital so they they're pretty much top notch. They treat infants up to the elderly. You should research them.

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What pp said. Grady in Atlanta is not only a level 1 trauma center, it's also got a top-notch burn center, and those are the two things it's known for.

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Specializes in Emergency and Critical Care.

My first critical care job was in Upstate medial enter in Syracuse NY. The attending had received all his training at Brook Army and that is where most of the research came out of. We did not have a lot of screaming and this was back in the late 70's early 80's we were involved in a great deal of research. One nurse was always at the head of the pt talking to them through the entire debridement process did not use a great deal of pain medication we used guided imagery and such it worked very well. Burn nursing covers every aspect of the care of a person it is an awesome place o work

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Specializes in Burn.

I work in the Burn ICU in Memphis, TN. Dr. William Hickerson, MD is our burn director and attending physician. He is quite famous in the burn world. Look him up. I wouldn't know if we're in the top 10, but I would hope we are. Our statistics are amazing and our research for the United States Defense Department has proven useful. We have often had burn patients transferred to us from other burn units. However, I would remind you that being a Burn ICU nurse is no easy task. In fact, it is typically the least desired position because it is very hard work. Our unit is a closed unit in the hospital.. basically a hospital inside a hospital. We have our OR, ER, Hydro, Recovery Room, ICU, and Stepdown in this unit. It is laid out basically in a circular pattern and closed from the rest of the hospital. As a Burn ICU nurse, you fill several different nursing roles. You are a wound care specialist, and ICU nurse, a Dialysis nurse, an ER nurse, a PACU nurse, a Stepdown nurse, etc. We also follow our patients to the floor after they've been d/c from stepdown. We deal with mostly burns and frostbite, but also have plastics patients and patients with severe reactions like Stevens-Johnson's syndrome. We are an adult burn center but take children as young as 14 in our unit, and our attending heads pediatrics in the hospital we are partnering with across the street so will in the future staff as pediatric and adult burn nurses. In addition to the roles you play, you have to understand how burns effect every system of the body.. so as a burn icu nurse, you are also a cardiology/pulmonary/neurology nurse. We also do everything within our unit because we deliver specialized care so even Code Blue is not announced over the hospital; we handle them ourselves. We are our medical response team within our unit. I don't know if all burn units operate like this, but I imagine they do because we deliver highly effective care with excellent patient outcomes and minimal hospital acquired infections. In fact we have led our hospital in minimum amount of CLABSIs wih a record of 0 in the last 6 months! Imagine that, the burn unit where most infections are expected and we haven't had a single CLABSI in over 6 months! I say all this to explain that being a burn nurse is truly a dedication. Don't do it if you aren't willing to dedicate yourself to it, because a bad burn nurse can kill a burn patient quicker than Mucor.

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Specializes in Burn.

Oh and with all that said, I must add that I truly love my job! If it's the right fit for you, then go for it!

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Specializes in Emergency and Critical Care.
Tmari1 said:
I work in the Burn ICU in Memphis, TN. Dr. William Hickerson, MD is our burn director and attending physician. He is quite famous in the burn world. Look him up. I wouldn't know if we're in the top 10, but I would hope we are. Our statistics are amazing and our research for the United States Defense Department has proven useful. We have often had burn patients transferred to us from other burn units. However, I would remind you that being a Burn ICU nurse is no easy task. In fact, it is typically the least desired position because it is very hard work. Our unit is a closed unit in the hospital.. basically a hospital inside a hospital. We have our OR, ER, Hydro, Recovery Room, ICU, and Stepdown in this unit. It is laid out basically in a circular pattern and closed from the rest of the hospital. As a Burn ICU nurse, you fill several different nursing roles. You are a wound care specialist, and ICU nurse, a Dialysis nurse, an ER nurse, a PACU nurse, a Stepdown nurse, etc. We also follow our patients to the floor after they've been d/c from stepdown. We deal with mostly burns and frostbite, but also have plastics patients and patients with severe reactions like Stevens-Johnson's syndrome. We are an adult burn center but take children as young as 14 in our unit, and our attending heads pediatrics in the hospital we are partnering with across the street so will in the future staff as pediatric and adult burn nurses. In addition to the roles you play, you have to understand how burns effect every system of the body.. so as a burn icu nurse, you are also a cardiology/pulmonary/neurology nurse. We also do everything within our unit because we deliver specialized care so even Code Blue is not announced over the hospital; we handle them ourselves. We are our medical response team within our unit. I don't know if all burn units operate like this, but I imagine they do because we deliver highly effective care with excellent patient outcomes and minimal hospital acquired infections. In fact we have led our hospital in minimum amount of CLABSIs wih a record of 0 in the last 6 months! Imagine that, the burn unit where most infections are expected and we haven't had a single CLABSI in over 6 months! I say all this to explain that being a burn nurse is truly a dedication. Don't do it if you aren't willing to dedicate yourself to it, because a bad burn nurse can kill a burn patient quicker than Mucor.

I would also add psych to your area of patient and family need. The one I worked in years ago at Upstate medical center in Syracuse NY, was also closed. It definitely takes a certain kind of person to work a burn unit. I loved it. But I moved and then ended up just floating in to one periodically at the University of Va. They used to say it was about 2 years that a nurse would stay in burns, I don't know if that is the same now. But I think it is the most specialized critical care area one can go in to and I have worked them all.

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