Washington creates center of excellence for workers burned on job
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National data has shown that nearly 50% of adult burn patients do not return to work two years after injury and 28% never return to work, according to the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, which announced on Friday its partnership with Harborview Medical Center in the creation of a center of excellence for workers burned on the job.
The collaboration follows a recent study in the Journal of Burn Care & Research that showed that 93% of employees with work-related burns who were treated at the University of Washington’s Medicine Regional Burn Center at Harborview, Washington, returned to work on average 24 days after injury.
The research attributes these improved outcomes to the specialized support the worker receives from employers and workers comp claims staff and to the comprehensive burn care at Harborview, according to a press release.
“Getting the right care at the right time is crucial for these catastrophically injured workers,” said Joel Sacks, director of the Washington Department of Labor and Industries in a press statement. “We hope to make their recovery better and a little easier by improving access to specialists.”
“The new Center of Excellence for Burns will help us streamline multi-disciplinary care to Washington’s workers who sustain devastating burns,” said Dr. Nicole Gibran, director of the Regional Burn Center at Harborview Medical Center, part of University of Washington Medicine, in a press statement. “By coordinating care with providers who understand burn injuries, we facilitate physical and psychological recovery.”
This is the second center of excellence at the hospital; the first, for amputations, was established in early 2016, according to the press release.
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