THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702230244
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 39 lines
Administrators at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals are considering closing the facility's burn unit, the oldest nonmilitary burn unit in the country.
Dr. Andrew A. Lasser, chief operating officer of MCV Hospitals at Virginia Commonwealth University, said Friday that staffing problems may force the 12-bed Evans-Haynes Burn Center to close down.
MCV has had problems finding the trained nurses needed to operate the 50-year-old unit, he said.
``We must have enough specially trained and qualified people,'' Lasser said. ``If we have any way of keeping it open, we will.''
``Nationally the numbers of burns are going down, so fewer and fewer people are going into burns as a specialty,'' he said.
MCV is one of three burn centers in Virginia.
The others are at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and the University of Virginia Hospitals in Charlottesville.
Lasser said those burn units could take over for MCV.
About 160 of MCV's 30,000 patients treated last year were burn patients, Lasser said. About half of the burn patients were from Richmond.
Lasser said staff members would be transferred to other positions at the hospital if the burn unit closes, and no one would be let go.
Burn treatment is a highly specialized field requiring knowledge of wound care, infection control and surgical procedures that involve tissue removal and skin-grafting, experts say.
Severe burns produce some of medicine's most vulnerable patients.
With the protective outer layers of skin breached, infection is a continual threat - and a major killer - of burn patients.
KEYWORDS: MEDICAL COLLEGE OF VIRGINIA BURN UNIT