Burn Treatment

Comprehensive Burn Care

The Nathan Speare Regional Burn Treatment Center is the only burn facility in suburban Philadelphia providing comprehensive treatment for pediatric and adult burn patients and their families — from emergency and intensive care to rehabilitation, follow-up and outpatient services.

We also provides specialized burn wound management, including daily wound care, physical therapy and patient education, to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and foster shorter hospitalizations. Our specialists treat patients with acute burns, recovering from burns, undergoing reconstructive surgery, or recovering from a recent episode of major skin loss or injury syndrome that resembles a burn.

Crozer Health also offers scar management, burn reconstruction evaluation, connection with burn-experienced plastic surgeons, and a comprehensive psychological and social work support system for all ages. Additionally, we will initiate a school re-entry, work re-entry, or safety education program for appropriate situations.

For more information, call 610-447-2821.

Plastic Surgery for Burns

There are two main categories of burn surgery: acute and reconstructive.

Acute burn care occurs immediately after the injury, delivered by a team of trauma surgeons who specialize in burn care. Complex burns often require consultation with plastic surgeons. Large burns, or burns of critical body areas, should be treated at a verified burn center, such as Crozer Health’s Nathan Speare Regional Burn Treatment Center. Many smaller burns can be treated with outpatient options.

Some patients may need reconstructive burn surgery after the initial burn wounds have healed. This type of care is usually provided by a plastic surgeon. Reconstructive burn surgery is designed to improve both the function and the cosmetic appearance of burn scars. Learn more about reconstructive plastic surgery for burns.

Our goal is to improve both the function and the cosmetic appearance of burn scars. Reconstructive burn surgery involves altering scar tissue, with both non-operative and operative treatment. 

Counseling and Emotional Support

Beyond physical discomfort, an acute burn can affect a patient's emotional health. The Burn Treatment Center's psychiatric liaison nurse provides counseling and emotional support to each burn patient and their families — from admission through follow-up outpatient care.

The center's social worker provides counseling, information and referral to community agencies that can help burn patients and their families. When a patient is ready for discharge from the hospital, our social worker can help plan for home care or placement options. The Burn Treatment Center also provides full outpatient evaluation and treatment for persons who have suffered burns.

Care for Soft Tissue Diseases

The Nathan Speare Regional Burn Treatment Center cares for patients recovering from a recent episode of major skin loss or injury syndromes that resemble burns. These may include:

• Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN): Life-threatening skin disorders that are usually induced by a drug reaction.
• Scalded Skin Syndrome: Infection in which the skin becomes damaged and sheds.
• Bullous Pemphigus: A blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes.
• Calciphylaxis: Vascular calcification and skin necrosis.
• Frostbite: Body tissues become frozen and permanent damage may occur if the affected area is not treated promptly.
• Necrotizing Fasciitis: Also known as “flesh-eating disease”; a soft tissue infection of muscles, skin and connective tissue.
• Purpura Fulminans: A disease associated with severe bloodstream infection, often causing gangrene of portions of the extremities.
• Road Abrasions: Major road abrasions from auto, motorcycle or bicycle accidents.

For more information, call 610-447-2821.

Burn Prevention and Treatment Classes

Burn Prevention Community Outreach Programs

These interactive classes are designed to convey the importance of preventing a burn injury. Age-appropriate information is presented through various mediums, including videos, safety games, lectures, slides and discussion. Offerings include:

• Juvenile Firesetter Program: Focuses on fire prevention, particularly the problem of fireplay and firesetting among children.
• School Re-Entry Program for Pediatric Burn Patients: Designed to provide a young burn patient with an easier transition to their school community.
• Fire and Burn Safety for Seniors: Topics include home hazards, fire survival at home and away, electrical safety and more.
• Burn Injuries in the Workplace: Provides an introduction to the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of burn injuries.
• College Students and Burn Injury: Highlights the unique circumstances and potential fire and burn hazards encountered by college students.
• Leaving Home Safely: Teaches common fire risks and basic preventive measures for parents, high school seniors and college students.

For more information, call 610-447-2810.

Burn Treatment Education

We offer a range of training programs for healthcare students and professionals, including:

• The Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS) Provider Course of the American Burn Association: An eight-hour course for physicians, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, therapists and paramedics. The course provides guidelines in the assessment and management of the burn patient during the first 24 hours post-injury.
• Emergency Management and Transport of the Burn Patient: This program aims to present information regarding etiology, mechanism of injury, pathophysiology, types of burns and current treatment recommended by the American Burn Association and the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma.
• Nursing Care of the Patient with a Burn Injury – An Introductory Seminar in Burn Nursing for Student Nurses: The aim of this program is to present information basic to the understanding of a burn injury and appropriate to the role of the nurse in the delivery of care to a burn patient.

For more information, call 610-447-2821.