Benefits of an outreach education coordinator: a burn center's experience

Education of first responders and referring medical professionals is considered vital to high-quality burn care. Prior to 1999, the community education program at The Burn Center of MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MWHC) was staffed by ICU nurses who volunteered their time. As the program became more popular in the mid-1990s, the requests for lectures exceeded the capacity of a volunteer program. A request to hospital administration for a full-time education coordinator position was rejected in the climate of budget cut-backs and declining reimbursement. A business-oriented proposal, ultimately accepted, promised an increase in admissions, an improved payor mix, and an annual review of data to demonstrate the cost/benefit advantage. To advertise the creation of the coordinator position and education programs, letters were mailed to local fire departments, nursing schools and emergency departments. The response was positive, and, with a full-time coordinator, the requests were accommodated in a timely manner. Community education programs increased almost four-fold. Average annual admissions increased initially from 292 to 374 and have continued to increase, rising to 812 in fiscal year 2008. As expected, the average percent total body surface area burns decreased (from 10.8% to 6.9%), reflecting increased referral of smaller burns and, inferentially and per analysis, an improved payor mix. Most impressive was the increase in charitable donations, from an annual average of $27,500 before the position was created to an average of $183,000 annually thereafter. From this experience as well as the experience discovered by a national survey, there are desirable side effects of a full-time community burn education program coordinator, and the cost for The Burn Center at MWHC has been more than balanced by the benefits.