Burn Specialists at The Children's Hospital

The Burn Team at The Children’s Hospital consists of specially trained staff from a variety of disciplines working together to expertly manage and treat all aspects of your child’s burn or skin injury.

Your Care Team

Surgeons

Burn Team surgeons include a plastic surgeon and one burn surgeon, who are board-certified and expertly trained. The attending trauma surgeon on-call provides a portion of the initial surgical coverage. Your child may see a Pediatric Surgery Resident, who assists surgeons in clinic appointments and procedures performed in the Emergency Department and operating room.

Nurses

Burn Team nurses work with you and your child to teach you about the many issues that follow a burn injury, including wound-care issues.

Medical Technician

The Medical Technician also teaches you and your child proper burn injury care. The medical technician also assists with your child’s wound care dressings, and assists with surgical procedures.

Social Worker

Provides psychosocial assessments, intervention and support for burn patients and their families. Services include coordination and referral to community resources, child protection concerns, school related issues and other supportive services as needed.   

Psychologist

A faculty member of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine who specializes in burns and rehabilitation serves a consultant to the burn team. The board-certified psychologist provides patients and families assistance in coping with psychological effects of a burn injury, including consultation, psychological assessment and treatment of behavior problems, psychological adjustment, post-traumatic stress disorders and pain management.

Therapeutic Recreation/Child Life Specialist

Provides your child with play/recreation activities to help him or her express feelings, explore body image, understand treatments and restore functional skills. During wound care and other medical procedures, the therapist provides interventions to help your child manage his or her stress/pain, and helps your child to understand the need for the procedure. The specialist provides developmentally appropriate play and recreation activities to promote normalization and focus patients on their strengths.

Therapists

Occupational and physical therapists specially trained in pediatric burn treatment evaluate and work to restoration your child’s ability to perform activities and gain independence. They evaluate and provide splinting, positioning, range of motion, exercise, developmental activities, and support equipment to restore patients’ maximum function during each step of the recovery process. Therapists also provide scar management, which includes massage and pressure management. The Children’s Hospital has two of the only pediatric certified occupational hand therapists in Colorado (this is being verified).

Clinical Dietitian

Clinical dieticians ensure patients receive the nutritional requirements while in the hospital, which helps to promote healing.

Special Support and Consulting Personnel

The burn team consults with other specialty services at The Children’s Hospital as needed for individualized patient needs, including the Pain Team, Ophthalmology, Critical Care Team, Pulmonology, Rehabilitation, and Infectious Disease.