VCU news

By Leha Byrd

The 30-member nursing team at the VCU Health Evans-Haynes Burn Center has been recognized with a silver level Beacon Award for Excellence by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.

The award honors North American hospital units for their, “evidence-based practices to improve patient and family outcomes,” according to the AACN website. Also used as a benchmark for the award are nursing units that demonstrate a positive and reassuring work environment, with greater collaboration between colleagues and leaders, higher morale and lower turnover.

Evans-Haynes, which last year celebrated its 70th anniversary, is a 16-bed facility equipped to provide acute, progressive, and intensive levels of care. There are eight intensive care beds and eight progressive care beds. Qualified staff and quality infrastructure are essential when caring for patients, and is a key reason why Evans-Haynes staff can administer quintessential care, said Wendy Lugo, who was Evans-Haynes’ nurse manager the last 3 1/2 years.

Our team embraces the whole patient, which includes their families.

“Our team embraces the whole patient, which includes their families. We understand the effects such an injury has on the family, and the difference that support makes in a patient’s recovery,” she said. “The Burn Center cares for its patients across the continuum of hospitalization and recovery. Patients and their families need specialized care and support to meet both the physical and psychosocial needs, beginning at the point of injury.”

In July 2017, the Burn Center was reverified as an adult and pediatric burn center by the American Burn Association. Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is the only Level I trauma center in the state verified by both the American College of Surgeons as a Level I adult and pediatric trauma center, and by the American Burn Association as a Level I adult and pediatric burn center.

Evans-Haynes’ staff provides individualized inpatient care for more than 500 pediatric and adult patients annually. There are three primary levels of care: general, intermediate or stepdown, and intensive. If necessary, burn patients have access to psychologists, nutritionists, rehabilitative specialists, dietitians, social workers and pain specialists to enhance their recovery.

“Some patients may require reconstructive surgery or psychological support for years following hospitalization,” Lugo said. “The unique relationship that staff in the Burn Center are able to build with patients allows for care of patients and families … that best meets the needs of each, because those needs may vary greatly and change throughout the various stages of hospitalization and life.”

Throughout National Nurses Week, May 6-12, Evans-Haynes nurses will be honored with gifts of appreciation from nursing leadership, and staff selected by their peers for nursing awards will be recognized.

“Burn Center nurses are passionate about providing the best care to patients,” Lugo said, “and that’s why this Beacon Award is so meaningful.”