14 Management of the Patient with Thermal Injuries

Optimal care of the burn patient requires not only specialized equipment but also, more importantly, a team of dedicated surgeons, nurses, therapists, nutritionists, pharmacists, social workers, psychologists, and operating room staff. Burn care was one of the fi rst specialties to adopt a multidisciplinary approach, and over the past 30 years, burn centers have decreased burn mortality by coordinating prehospital patient management, resuscitation methods, and surgical and critical care of patients with major burns. Detailed practice guidelines for burn patients, as well as lists of the resources needed in a burn center, have been developed.1,2