A joint decision between Nebraska Medicine and CHI Health will consolidate inpatient burn care next month. Patients with serious burn injuries will be treated at CHI St. Elizabeth in Lincoln.
Nebraska Medicine will continue to provide outpatient care to burn patients and to provide inpatient care at the Nebraska Medical Center to patients with burns over 10 percent or less of their body. The inpatient burn unit on the ninth floor of Clarkson Tower will become a critical care medical/surgical unit next month.
“This decision was made after much careful research and discussion,” said Nebraska Medicine Chief Medical Officer Harris Frankel, M.D. “As we transition away from inpatient burn treatment, residents of the Omaha Metro can be assured that our emergency and trauma response for burn patients will be as strong as ever, as will our outpatient clinic care. We’ll work closely with the staff at St. Elizabeth to make sure burn patients receive the right care in the right center.”
Nebraska Medicine and CHI leaders made the decision jointly, looking at the highly specialized nature of burn care and the fact that our center admits an average of just 100 patients a year. Patients who come into our trauma center who require critical burn care will be stabilized first before being transferred to St. Elizabeth.
“We have a very talented team in our burn unit and it’s important to point out that no jobs are being eliminated because of this change,” said Julie Lazure, vice president of acute care and pathology services. “This the right decision for both health systems — having two specialized centers in the same region with a relatively small number of patients no longer makes sense.”
St. Elizabeth’s burn unit has 16 beds and is certified by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Burn Association (ABA) and treats patients from a six-state area. The change in burn care takes effect Sept. 4.