Burn Care

Patients not requiring hospitalization are provided outpatient wound care and rehabilitation. There are many factors that influence the severity of a thermal injury. These may include overall size, depth, patient age, cause of injury, and other medical comorbidities. Doctors classify burns into three categories:

• First Degree Burns - Similar to a sunburn, these superficial injuries only damage the top-most layer of skin. They can be very painful but generally do not require operative intervention or extensive wound care.
• Second Degree Burns - Any blistering indicates at least a second degree burn. This category of injury is quite variable, with some damaging deep enough into the skin to require a surgery for healing and others only requiring specialized wound care to heal. These injuries have a risk of scar formation and can become deeper if not appropriately treated soon after injury.
• Third Degree Burns - Unless very small, all third degree injuries require operative intervention. This is because they damage all the layers of the skin and do not have the capacity to heal on their own. All third degree burns should be referred to a burn center for treatment.

MedStar Health provides a multidisciplinary approach to the care of critically injured patients in the Burn Intensive Care Unit and Burn Intermediate Care Unit. We implement best practices in treatment and use of the most cutting-edge technologies and innovative therapies to promote healing. Patients are admitted to our inpatient care unit when they experience burns requiring specialized wound care or surgical intervention.

We have dedicated psychosocial support services including a full time psychologist who specializes in diagnosis and treatment of acute stress and post-traumatic stress disorders as well as nonpharmacologic strategies for pain management. Our psychologist is available for consultation and support for patients both during inpatient hospitalization and on an outpatient basis.

The Burn Center engages with our community for education and injury prevention.

Our prevention programs reach out to high-risk groups, such as firefighters and Boy Scouts. We also provide programming for Parent Teacher Associations providing parents of young children with critical information on prevention and treatment of minor burns.

Our multidisciplinary team provides education and clinical training to students in many health care specialties including physicians-in-training, surgeons and critical care specialists. We also participate in training and educating first responders, emergency departments, urgent care centers, and primary care providers.

MedStar Health’s active basic science and clinical research programs are on the forefront of development of novel solutions to understanding thermal injury, wound healing, critical care, and scar formation. In addition, the medical team is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and actively participates in a multitude of national and international societies. Our clinical research program offers a wide array of clinical trials and most patients qualify for at least one study, if they wish.

Painful, itchy, or tight scar tissue can make life more difficult for patients as they recover from burns or traumatic injuries. With laser scar revision, we have another tool available to relieve pain, restore motion, and improve the quality of their lives.