Burn Unit Perceptorship ..are you still there? :]

thelemonadestand · Oct 26, 2010

Hello,
I am an LPN student who has the chance to do my perceptorship in the Burn Unit . I have read "Burn Unit" and have ordered a book on burn nursing and wounds. Any feedback,insight,personal stories of your perceptorship or work experience would be awesome! I am really trying to push myself to do something difficult and heavy as a LPN student to afford me alot of skills,experience and a great platform to jump off as a new nurse! Just between "you and me" I am a wee bit nervous and alot excited,Thank-you in advance.

Being nervous is normal, being excited is what will drive you!! I've been a burn nurse for a year now this month, and i actually did my preceptorship as an RN on the burn unit i work for now. Be ready to work, because burn care is very labor intensive, especially for the big percentage burns. I think it's a great jumping off point for your career as a new nurse, in burn care you take care of icu as well as regular med-surg patients, so for me i like the variety! Lots of wound cares, fluids, pain management, & teaching are just some of the things you'll experience during your rotation.

I'm actually starting to read "Burn Unit", it's a good book so far! The only other book i have is "Total Burn Care" which is my burn care bible, it's pretty comprehensive, it's a textbook so it's kinda uber expensive!! probably don't recommend buying it until you decide burn nursing is your career choice, i didn't buy it until i started working as a burn nurse.

During my preceptorship and ultimately my training as an RN, i felt like i was pushed beyond my comfort zone, but in a good way. A lot of things i had to learn on the job about fluid resuscitation, pain management, vent settings, pain/sedation drips, wound dressings, escharotomies, burn depth, the list goes on and on. Only at those times i grew professionally! and even after my training when i got out on my own, things didn't slow down. My very first patient on my own as a trained burn RN became a 1:1 (my only patient) and coded at shift change and ended up dying a few hours later i was very upset, but i was reassured that there was nothing i could have done to save him.

A lot of people talk about the really intense part of burn nursing, but there are other less severe cases you'll take care of, like a burn to the forearm that needed surgery for grafting, pretty much healthy people who just so happened to get burned. I can go on and on, but i can only say that you have to experience being on the floor to see what we're all about!!

Hope this helps!!

followyourbliss · Oct 28, 2010

Thank-you, that is very helpful. I am getting excited,only one person gets to go to the burn unit! I am reading alot on wound care and fluids, etc so I have a good understanding.