From 20 to 23 October 2015, Melbourne hosted the Australian New Zealand Burn Association conference which saw over 300 delegates from numerous countries such as Australia, USA, Philippines, Hong Kong, Brazil, New Zealand, Singapore, France and Malawi.
Representing CFA and the fire services at the conference was Station Officer Andrew Smith from Pakenham, who has worked with both the Alfred Hospital and Royal Children’s Hospital Burns units for over 10 years.
The conference was last in Melbourne in 2008 with this year’s conference focusing on quality burn care. Like all organisations going through change, there are a lot of similar issues that both the medical and emergency services face when dealing with the challenges of providing a quality service on a limited budget.
During the conference Andrew, as a previous winner, was invited to be a judge for the burn prevention poster competition, with the winner being awarded the Molnlycke Health Care Award. This year the winner of the award was a burn prevention program delivered to the Pacific Island of Tahiti by the National Burns Team from New Zealand.
At 15 specialist burn centres across Australia and New Zealand during a 12-month period between 2013 to 2014 figures show scald-related burns to children accounted for 56% per cent of cases, however in adults we see an alarming figure of 32% of cases suffering flame burns with 20 to 29 year olds accounting for 25 per cent of cases.
Although large burns are on the decline, there are still 50,000 people a year admitted to hospital for treatment for burns in Australia. With the large number of admissions and the high cost of treatment, prevention plays a large part in reducing costs on the Australian community.
Cool running water is still the recommended initial first-aid treatment for a burn injury with a minimum of 20 minutes required to reduce the burning process with the first 10 minutes studies showing as the most critical time for cooling.
For further burn-related information refer to www.vicburns.org.au or contact Station Officer Andrew Smith at Pakenham Fire Station.
Author: Andrew Smith