Caring for the Burn Patient: The Perioperative Nurse

Abstract

Imagine traveling through an extended hallway accompanied by strangers dressed in green garments speaking a language you have never heard before. Now imagine traveling that same path, but this time with a confident nurse alongside you translating the language for you and advocating for you during the journey. For the burn patient, especially one who has suffered severe burns, the hospital environment can be a daunting experience. Burn patients often feel afraid and intensely vulnerable. The perioperative nurse has the unique opportunity to empower and positively impact patients and their outcome by assisting and guiding them through this challenging and difficult process. The skilled perioperative nurse has available a wide variety of talents and tools such as critical thinking, problem-solving, technical expertise, and genuine, compassionate caring. The role of the perioperative nurse encompasses three phases of the patient’s surgical or procedural journey: the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods. Each phase of the experience has its own unique aspects and priorities, but all are designed to be carefully interwoven and in concert with each other while moving the patient through the process toward a desired outcome or goal. During the preoperative phase the nursing tasks focus on providing preoperative education and teaching, monitoring of the patient’s physical and emotional well-being, and assisting the surgeon and anesthesia provider with the informed consent process. This preoperative phase is where the patient is readied for surgery including being given a thorough preoperative assessment that may include history and physical examination, laboratory studies, radiographs, and review of any medications, blood transfusions, or equipment ordered.