Like, wow- WHAT?

Specialties Burn

Published

Tonight on TV (Shark Tank) some guys were peddling organic skin care oils/cosmetics. When the Sharks asked them where they got the idea that their oils were good for cosmetic reasons, they said: "Our Mom is a certified wound nurse, and when one of us was burned at work, she told us to 'wait until the tingling stopped, then cover the burn with our organic oil'". I guess their Mom thought that keeping a burn nice and warm would help it HEAL?

Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

my bad.We have an OTC equivalent (SSD) in stock on the LTC.

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
my bad.We have an OTC equivalent (SSD) in stock on the LTC.

It might have become OTC within the last few months and I'm not aware but Silvadene basically is SSD and is not OTC. We also stock it like it's an OTC med on my unit (acute care burn) but it is not OTC.

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On your unit they ought to pump it up to the floor by the gallon, like they do in soda fountains.

When I worked in one LTC place it was like pulling teeth to get enough supply of that stuff from the pharmacy (it was used to treat pressure ulcers). The tired excuse was 'it hasn't been authorized', or 'it's expensive', or 'you're using too much of it'. I got so tired of that stuff I would send the pharmacy the size, stage, treatment frequency order, and other information to beg them to send more. As if treating any wound isn't going to cost money?

Love your comment about burn units being 'hot and stinky'. Those places aren't for the faint of heart- so Kudos, to you, dirtyhippiegirl. I loved my time there.

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
On your unit they ought to pump it up to the floor by the gallon, like they do in soda fountains.

When I worked in one LTC place it was like pulling teeth to get enough supply of that stuff from the pharmacy (it was used to treat pressure ulcers). The tired excuse was 'it hasn't been authorized', or 'it's expensive', or 'you're using too much of it'. I got so tired of that stuff I would send the pharmacy the size, stage, treatment frequency order, and other information to beg them to send more. As if treating any wound isn't going to cost money?

Love your comment about burn units being 'hot and stinky'. Those places aren't for the faint of heart- so Kudos, to you, dirtyhippiegirl. I loved my time there.

Actually our docs have mostly moved away from silver-based dressings for inpatient burns. We still use SSD for very deep burns or for burns that look infected from the start. But your average partial-thickness inpatient burn on my unit gets vaseline gauze and bacitracin once a day. There are quite a few differing studies on whether using silver for burn treatment actually does help with either healing or anti-microbial properties. That plus, unfortunately-yeah, the cost measures means that we've significantly decreased our usage of silver-based dressings on my unit. (We surpassed the ED last quarter as a loss-leader. Esp. now, upwards of 90% of our patients are homeless with absolutely no means to pay for treatment that often includes multiple surgeries.)

/I'm rambling again ;)

//hot and stinky pretty much describes it

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Doesn't your place have some way to register homeless folks for Medicaid, or ACA, etc.? Then again in that unfortunate population so many are mentally ill and have other issues, I bet at least a few wouldn't cooperate with that process. Maybe when ACA collapses in favor of Medicare For All, we'll all be required to be barcoded or have chips implanted that can be scanned at the scene of any healthcare services, and automatically billed to Medicare? That'd save a bundle on administrative costs...

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