Severe Burns: A Family Guide to Medical and Emotional Recovery

The care of severe burn victims over 100,000 people are hospitalized each year has improved dramatically over the past fifty years. But a serious burn remains a painful, frightening, and traumatic experience. The psychological stress of injury may be increased by the formidable array of medical equipment used in early stages of care and by the number of doctors, nurses, and specialists that burn patients and their families encounter. Once out of intensive care, the burn survivor often faces a long and difficult recovery.

This book is meant to relieve some of the confusion and anxiety that comes with any serious burn injury. Written by the staff of the Baltimore Regional Burn Center, it includes comprehensive medical information from leading experts and first-person accounts of the experiences of burn survivors. The book describes the different types of burns, the various stages of treatment and recovery, the roles of all the people on the burn team, the physical and emotional challenges of rehabilitation, and the resources available to patients and families. It also explains how to prevent injuries in the future and how to administer first aid to someone who has been burned.

Organized to be useful to family members and friends immediately after the injury, and to burn survivors themselves during recovery and rehabilitation, the book is comprehensive in its coverage of topics of concern to everyone affected by a burn injury:

Types of burns and inhalation injuries
Survival, complications, and the future
The Burn Team and what they do
Tubes, monitors, and machines
Types of dressings
Pain management
Physical rehabilitation
Emotional and social recovery
Special care for children
Returning to school or work
Support groups, counseling, camps
Plastic surgery, scarring, and corrective cosmetics
Prevention and safety
Organizations and resources

Being a burn survivor means so much more than simply being alive. Being a burn survivor also means being a take-charge-of-your-life person whose strength of spirit is inspirational to others. Burn survivors have to learn to accept that life as they knew it before the injury is lost. With this acceptance comes profound grief, of course, but many burn survivors grow to a level of personal awareness and acceptance of self that most people never experience. from the Preface

For all those whose lives have been touched by burn injuries, this book explains medical procedures and the recovery process in a clear and comprehensive way. It will help burn survivors understand their injuries, their treatment, and their important role in returning to productive life. John A. Boswick, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S., St. Joseph's Hospital, Denver