Determining Immediate Burn Bed Availability to Support Regional Disaster Response

Determining burn bed availability from the start of a disaster is critical to emergency response efforts, yet continues to be one of the most elusive aspects for planners to anticipate. Healthcare providers agree that, over time, burn centers (BCs) can and will move patients, activate staff, and bring in supplies to meet surge needs. The real challenge lies in identifying how many beds will be immediately available to handle any initial surge of patients. A consortium of 27 BCs in the northeast participates in a telephone bed census program. Although only accurate at the time of each call, clinical staff is asked to report the number of open ICU and/or step-down beds. Retrospective review of 86 Burn Bed Census (BBC) reports was conducted over an 8-year period. Data were statistically analyzed for total, absolute minimum, mean, SD and linear trend analysis. The mean for immediately available beds from January 2009 through December 2016 is 72; with monthly averages ranging from 62 (7%) average available beds in January to 78 (9%) average available beds in November. Monthly SDs range from 6 in July to 17 in November. One goal for disaster planners is to approximate a number of immediately available beds without overwhelming any one BC with too many patients. Utilizing this model enables planners and clinicians throughout the northeast to predict potential burn bed availability and make more reliable decisions about when and where to initially send patients.