Despite a decreasing number of burns and improvement in mortality of burn patients in the United States, burn injuries are still frequent, and there are about 486,000 burn injuries requiring medical treatment each year. There are only 128 burn centers in the United States with some states having none.  Non-burn specialists such as emergency medicine physicians, primary care physicians, pediatricians, and Advanced Practice Providers will inevitably treat burn patients, especially for small burns.  In many instances, the first clinicians to see burn patients are non-burn specialists in the urgent care, ED or family medicine clinic yet they typically do not have any formal training or exposure to burn injuries in residency or medical school as it is not a routine curriculum. As a result of this, many clinicians feel uneasy about managing burn patients even if the burn is minor. If a burn center is in a reasonable proximity, one can transfer the patient, but prior to transfer, or if no burn center is available, these clinicians may have to do the initial treatment. It is extremely important that these physicians understand the basic principles of burn care. In times of burn disasters and mass casualty incidents, non-burn specialists are needed to care for burn patients because burn centers can be quickly overwhelmed.  It is reasonable to expect non-burn specialists to take care of them in their hospitals and ICUs.  They should be able to manage burn patients, at least in the early part of the initial management, which includes stabilization, resuscitation and caring for burn wounds. weiterlesen