Design of a burn treatment unit

While operating a temporary, four-bed burn treatment unit, the State University Hospital of the Upstate Medical Center took on the challenge of building a modern Burn Treatment Center to serve a fifteen county area of upstate New York. A primary consideration in the design of the unit was infection control. Since "cost containment" is a phase on all of our minds these days, costs were carefully considered by our planning groups during the design stages. At the same time, we knew that we could ill afford to "cut any corners" that might ultimately endanger the well being of burn victims entrusted to our care. The design and construction of the Central New York Regional Burn Treatment Center took over two years. A number of more elaborate systems were not incorporated in the unit; but, operation of the unit has shown that the trade-offs that we did make, in order to keep the overall cost as low as possible, have not adversely affected our patients or patient care.