Management of burn injuries project - The Alfred Hospital and Foundation

Victorian Burns Management Guidelines - Research, Development, Publication and Digital Enhancement

Initial donation of $40,000 in 2010 and further donation of $26,000 in 2016

In response to the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires in Victoria, Skilled Medical wanted to support a practical project that aimed at improving health outcomes for people with burn injuries living in rural and regional areas.

Skilled Medical provided funding to The Alfred Foundation in Victoria of $40,000 for a medical research study and the development of clinical practice guidelines aimed at improving the care of patients with burn injuries in non-specialist settings. The project was conducted by the Victorian Adult Burns Service and led to the development of new Burns Management Guidelines which were launched in 2011 and are now in widespread use.

Over 5,000 burn injuries present to emergency departments across the state of Victoria each year, approximately 400 require specialist burns service care, with most of these injuries being managed by clinicians outside of the burns services.

The Burns Management Guidelines - see www.vicburns.org.au - are for use by doctors and nurses and assist with the early treatment of burns with the aim of achieving better clinical outcomes for burn injury patients.

The guidelines specifically assist these clinicians and encompass the following:

Victorian specific transfer and referral criteria
Burns assessment
Initial assessment and stabilisation of severe burns
Guidelines for the management of minor burns that do not require the burns service expertise

The guidelines present the best available evidence and are bench marked nationally and internationally and engaged other key stakeholders such as Ambulance Victoria, Adult Retrieval Victoria, GP Victoria and metro, regional and rural clinicians who provided feedback regarding content. The guidelines were presented at the Australian & New Zealand Burns Association Annual Scientific Meeting in October 2011 and at the National Trauma Research Institute Conference in Melbourne in November 2011.

“Dear Dr Campbell

We thank you once more for your generous support in making these guidelines come to fruition. We welcome  their dissemination throughout Skilled Medicals' networks. The guidelines will also be disseminated via Clinicians Health Channel, Department of Health, State Trauma Committee, to all public and private hospital CEOs and Emergency Department Directors and the Victorian Post Graduate Medical Foundation.

My sincere thanks and gratitude for all you and Skilled Medical have done.”

Yvonne Singer
Victorian State Burns Education Program Coordinator
Victorian Adult Burns Service

The Burns Management Guidelines