Lessons from the establishment of Nepal's first skin bank

L.Z Cai,C Long,A Iqbal,M Casertano,B Karki,K Nakarmi,S Anderson,J Patell,J Chang,S.M Rai

doi:10.1016/j.aogh.2016.04.239

Abstract

Lessons from the establishment of Nepal's first skin bank

Highlights

Program/Project Purpose: In January 2014, our team partnered with ReSurge International to examine peri-operative burn care in Nepal
Structure/Methods/Design: With the ultimate goal of creating a sustainable skin banking program, we identified four major tasks: 1) Identify and acquire the minimum set of equipment needed to collect, process, store, and graft cadaveric skin for burn injuries; 2) Develop feasible and safe donation protocols and documentation for low-resource settings; 3) Pilot test the end-to-end donation system with donors and patients; and 4) Develop a long-term awareness program to introduce the novel concept of skin donations to the Nepali people
The hospital acquired all of the necessary equipment and materials for the skin bank through a combination of local and international fundraising efforts

Summary

Introduction

Program/Project Purpose: In January 2014, our team partnered with ReSurge International to examine peri-operative burn care in Nepal. Our team worked with the local Nepali team at Kirtipur Hospital to establish the country’s first ever skin bank and offer these burn patients another chance at life. Structure/Methods/Design: With the ultimate goal of creating a sustainable skin banking program, we identified four major tasks: 1) Identify and acquire the minimum set of equipment needed to collect, process, store, and graft cadaveric skin for burn injuries; 2) Develop feasible and safe donation protocols and documentation for low-resource settings; 3) Pilot test the end-to-end donation system with donors and patients; and 4) Develop a long-term awareness program to introduce the novel concept of skin donations to the Nepali people.

Results

Conclusion