The newly expanded Burn Unit is unique in Arizona, for the past ten years have provided invaluable experience and knowledge which went into the unit plans for the West Wing. Because infection is one of the most dangerous complications for burn victims, each patient room is individually controlled with filtered air at 85-degree temperature to prevent bacteria from entering. A treatment room, with its tanks of circulating water for cleansing and the removal of dead tissues lies at the end of the complex. Hoisting equipment raises and lowers the patient twice a day into the stainless steel tanks and then into the plastic drying tent to be dried by a flow of warm air from electric blowers. A serious burn, one of the most painful of injuries, is a severe shock to the entire body system.
Time is a critical factor.
Body fluids must be maintained, shock must be treated, and infection prevented. In third-degree burns, body fluids are rapidly lost and must be replaced intravenously. Burned areas are covered with fresh, sterile pigskin which provides a dressing and reduces pain, allowing the patient's own skin to regenerate itself. When this does not happen, early grafting is accomplished by taking skin from donor sites on the patient's own body. Placed in separate sections over the burned area, this skin will grow under proper conditions and a healthy graft will be achieved.