Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant Tuned In To Burn Care And Telemedicine

Dr. Shawn Fagan Presented Updates At Burn Symposium

Atlanta, Georgia – WEBWIRE – Tuesday, March 24, 2015

"Patients were more likely to share more information with doctors and nurses via telemedicine than in person."

Atlanta, Georgia -- Dr. Shawn Fagan, former medical director of the Summer Redstone Burn Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented “Updates in Burn Care and the Role of Telemedicine” at the 8th Annual J.M. Still Burn Center symposium at Chateau Elan on March 2, 2015. “Dr. Fagan has joined the J.M. Still Burn Center team in Augusta, Georgia,” said Atlanta legal nurse consultant Liz Buddenhagen.

Burns:

Nationally there are 450,000 burns annually converting to 1 burn every 30 minutes and resulting in 40,000 hospitalizations costing $7.5 billion, Fagan said. There are over 6,000 deaths from burns, 75% of which occur at the scene. The average age of a burn victim is 32 years old and reflects the highest incidence of young risk takers.

Burn Care:

Fagan discussed the most current medical and surgical treatments in burn care, a challenging and complex field. There are 125 burn centers in the United States with an average size of 15 beds per burn center. Burn care mortality has steadily decreased due to specialized burn centers, proper burn resuscitation and infection control.

The J.M. Burn Center is the largest burn center in the United States and third largest in the world. There are 72 dedicated burn beds, 20 Intensive Care beds and 4 dedicated Operating Rooms with 4,170 admissions and 20,804 outpatient clinic visits annually. The burn center also partners with burn facilities in Charleston, SC, Austell/Atlanta, GA, Jackson, MS, and Valdosta, GA.

When at Massachusetts General Hospital, Fagan was on the cutting edge of telemedicine being used in burn care, including videoconferencing, phone, smart phone, texting and email. He said that telemedicine in burn care increases quality of care. At Mass General, burn doctors educated visiting nurses and wound nurses to telemedicine, formed a collaboration with the rehabilitative hospital, made house calls (virtual visits) to the rehab center and were able to identify patient problems early via telemedicine.

He said patients were more likely to share more information with doctors and nurses via telemedicine than in person. Limitations of telemedicine include reimbursement factors. The drivers of telemedicine include access to burn care everywhere.

About Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant:

Liz Buddenhagen, RN, certified legal nurse consultant, has been assisting Atlanta attorneys with the medical issues of their legal cases since 2005. For more information view www.Legal-Nurse-Consultant-LNC.com, email Liz@BuddenhagenLNC.com or call 770-725-2997.