Tampa General Hospital Opens Newly Renovated and Enhanced Burn Center and Burn ICU to Provide Advanced Care to Burn Patients

The newly renovated Burn Center and ICU will support both caregivers and patients with expanded
spaces and enhanced technologies.

TAMPA, Fla., March 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) — the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and west central Florida's only Level I trauma center — today announced the opening of its newly renovated regional Burn Center, including its connected, specialized Burn Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for critically ill burn patients. Tampa General's 18-bed Burn Center includes a six-bed intensive care unit, a 12-bed wound care unit, treatment rooms and a burn operating room located within the unit.

"As one of the leading academic health systems in the country, each day we provide world-class care and leading-edge therapies to all who enter our doors. We are able to do this, in part, through our ongoing and significant investments in building physical patient care environments that leverage next-generation technologies to enhance care, support patients and families, and improve outcomes," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General. "The enhancement to our Burn Center — especially our Burn ICU — exemplifies this investment and, like the other components in our Master Facility Plan, will allow us to continue to offer transformational care in state-of-the-art spaces that serve patients from across our community and beyond."

Tampa General's Burn Center, which treats critically burned patients from emergency admission through rehabilitation, is one of just five burn centers in Florida to have earned verification by the American Burn Association (ABA)/American College of Surgeons (ACS) and one of only two ABA-verified adult and pediatric burn centers in Florida. This distinction means the center has met stringent guidelines for patient care procedures, facilities, and staffing.

The academic medical center's Burn Center has nurses and physicians who are highly trained in the care of patients who have experienced a burn trauma from fire, chemicals, oil, or electricity over more than 10% of their body. All nurses within the unit have Advanced Burn Life Support (ABLS) certification. Specialized care provided in Tampa General's Burn ICU includes intravenous fluid replacement, breathing support, pain control and treatment of burn wounds. The ICU is equipped with state-of-the-art monitoring equipment.

To streamline care, the newly renovated Burn ICU has added a room specifically for ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). ECMO is a heart-lung machine that removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygen-filled blood back to tissues in the body, allowing the heart and lungs to rest and heal.

Within the updated center, care is truly multidisciplinary and focused on the specific needs of the burn patient. Physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, and therapists provide expertise in infection prevention, nutrition, wound care, reconstruction and rehabilitation. Tampa General also has a Burn Survivor program for patients that provides support after their initial injury.

A major feature within the renovation of the Burn Center's ICU will be Tampa General's new "patient rooms of the future," which increase the efficiency of care with advanced technologies and allow caregivers to quickly receive the information they need to provide better patient care. The new technology in the Burn Center's ICU aims to simultaneously support quality care, improve patient satisfaction, and increase team member efficiency. An example is the transformation of a standard manual whiteboard to an electronic patient dashboard called an eWhiteboard.

The eWhiteboard automatically updates pertinent patient information and also serves as a dashboard during patient rounding. Another innovation is the Digital Door Sign. Essentially a wall-mounted iPad outside the patient room door, it provides the care team with the most up-to-date information on the patient. This provides efficiency and standardization across the hospital for important data, including the patient's status/requirements, patient-specific alerts, and special instructions to enhance the quality of care and safety. 

"This renovation is more than an investment in patient care, but also in patient experience," said Dr. Jared Troy, assistant professor in the Department of Plastic Surgery in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, and medical director of the Tampa General Burn Center. "When patients are in our care, especially for long-term treatment as is often the case for burn patients, we want them to feel at home and at ease. To achieve this, we designed the space to have a sleek, modern feel that promotes the health and healing of our patients, and provides the space to be close to their loved ones."

Tampa General's Burn Center and ICU treat more than 500 adult burn patients and about 300 pediatric burn patients each year and this newly remodeled unit provides the team with more space to work and care for burn patients, as well as for patients with other skin conditions.

"This renovation extends beyond the physical space and focuses on how we can best serve our community as one of the nation's leading academic medical centers tackling challenging and complex procedures and care," said Kelly Cullen, executive vice president and COO, Tampa General. "We've collaborated to ensure every detail of the unit provides our team members with the resources they need to deliver exceptional care."

The renovated Burn Center and ICU make up one part of Tampa General's Master Facility Plan, announced in September 2021. Tampa General's comprehensive Master Facility Plan is the largest in the hospital's history and is the cornerstone of the academic medical center's commitment to developing Tampa Bay's first Medical and Research District to serve the region's increasing health care needs.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL 

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-bed, not-for-profit, academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Hospitals, and is tied as the third highest-ranked hospital in Florida, with seven specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings – first nationally in the 2022 America's Best Employers for Women and sixth out of 100 Florida companies in the 2022 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging powered by Tower outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics. To see a medical care professional live anytime, anywhere on a smartphone, tablet or computer, visit Virtual Health | Tampa General Hospital (tgh.org). As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy, APR
Senior Communications Specialist
(813) 844-7322 (direct)
(813) 510-6363 (cell)
[email protected]

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital