Family-centred burn care.
Traditionally, burn units are places of isolation, where all facets of care are carefully controlled. The atmosphere is sterile, visitors are restricted, and real flowers are not allowed. At Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, a 1,500-bed tertiary care hospital, burn care for adults and children from throughout British Columbia is provided in our 15-bed special care unit. Like most burn units, ours had been designed primarily on the principle of preventing infection. The advent of universal precautions and the growing body of knowledge about the short- and long-term benefits of family support had started us on the road to change, but we were moving cautiously and somewhat reluctantly.
Adult↗