Article: If the burn has damaged vital organs, caused major blood loss, or led to shock, your life could be at risk. While addressing the actual burn injury as soon as possible greatly improves the recovery outlook, the medical team may need to stabilize your vital signs first. Let the emergency room and critical care team to their job. Once they’ve stabilized you, they’ll attend to the burn wounds. Stabilizing a victim of third degree burns might include using IV’s, providing oxygen, intubating or ventilating an unconscious victim, performing CPR or using and AED defibrillator.. Debris like scorched clothing, along with dead tissue, must be removed from the wound as soon as possible in order to reduce the risk of serious infections or other complications. Based on the nature of your burn, you might be placed in a special tub for cleaning and debriding, or surgical procedures may be required. In ECMO, or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, doctors will draw your blood in a plastic tube. Carbon dioxide is removed from the blood, oxygen is added, and the blood is returned to the body. This treatment, along with a low-level ventilator to keep your lungs moving, will ease the workload on your lungs as they heal. Keeping the burn area warm and moist can aid in the healing process. This might be provided through specially equipped room heaters and humidifiers, fluidized mattresses, and other equipment utilized in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU). Talk to your doctor about any environmental adjustments -- such as turning up the thermostat or adding a humidifier -- you should make at home once you are discharged. While third degree burns are sometimes painless at first due to nerve damage, you will likely experience significant pain eventually. The medical team will develop a pain management regimen suited to the specifics of your condition. You may need to be on pain medications long-term. Wearing virtual reality glasses can help ease a burn patient’s anxiety as their dressings are changed. If your hospital offers this, you’ll wear glasses that put you in “Snow World,” where you’ll get to throw snowballs and enjoy a wintry, arctic world. This will help distract and relax you as your dressings are being changed.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Get critical care for any life-threatening conditions. Undergo cleaning and debriding of the wound. Expect to receive ECMO treatment. Recover in a warm, humid environment. Take pain medications. Ask about using virtual reality glasses during dressing changes.