"Treatment of burn at ED"

Recently, my adult child and I presented at Geraldton Regional Hospital ED as they had been badly burnt on their abdomen. A clinician was at the islands and after seeing my child's burn, he rang the ED to advise that we were coming and also advised a list of meds my child had taken.

Upon arrival and after PCR testing, we were seen extremely quickly. The doctor was lovely and was great at keeping my adult child calm even though I found the ED was very chaotic. My child’s burn had to be washed/cooled with water and as my child was in intense pain, the doctor requested gas for them. An orderly brought the gas in, however it seemed they did not know how to set it up so left it at the side of the bed. It never got set up and was not used so my child had to bear through the pain for over 2 hours.

When it came to dressing the burn, the doctor had mentioned something about the fact that the dressings were different in WA and they were trying their best to get the right ones. A silver dressing was applied to the main part of my child’s abdomen but did not cover the entire burn area. When the doctor tried to then cover the silver dressing with a waterproof dressing, it stuck onto my adult child’s burned skin. I was concerned and immediately questioned them and I recall the doctor told me that it was like bad sunburn and it would be ok. I believe they then made a joke that they were ‘Macyvering’ to make it work (meaning they would do the best they could with the supplies they had as they weren't ideal). It seemed there were no nurses to assist, and I had to help the doctor open dressings to apply.

A bandage was then applied around my adult child’s torso and taped up.

A nurse then came to clean up, and threw out a lot of excess silver dressing that I believe should have been used to cover all of my adult child’s burn. The unopened gas attachment was also thrown out, which I felt my child should have been using to make them more comfortable and reduce their pain.

After around 2 hours, we were then sent home with pain killers and told that the Acute clinic would call us the next day to follow up.

We went to the Acute clinic shortly after my child had taken 2 Endone tablets. After my adult child’s bandage was removed to reveal the dressing, I was asked who had applied it. I advised them that it was a Dr at the ED. They said they were tempted to wheel my child to ED to get gas to remove the dressing as it had stuck to their burnt skin and removing the dressing would be extremely painful. It seemed they were shocked that it had been applied this way, and I told them I had questioned the doctor at the ED as I was concerned. My child said they would be alright and to proceed without the gas. A decision that my child regretted very quickly. They started to remove it slowly, but it was too painful. my child asked for it to be done quickly, which they did, ripping off a lot of their burned skin which was absolutely horrendous for my child, and also myself to bear witness to. My child was standing up during this and then they had to lay down after almost passing out during the washing and cleaning of the burn. The burn on my child’s abdomen had gone black from the silver dressing and the blistered part was actually not that bad. The tape mark that had to be pulled off red raw skin was an absolute disgrace.

We were asked if photos were taken at the ED in the days prior and sent to the burns unit in Perth, which I believe was protocol. As I understand it, not 1 photo was taken in the initial visit at the ED so photos were taken at the Acute Clinic to be sent to the burns unit in Perth. The silver dressing was then applied to the whole burn area, covered in duoderm and taped to normal skin surrounding the burn.

All in all, I’m so disappointed that my adult child’s burn was, I believe, made worse by a qualified Dr, who should have known how to apply a dressing, in my opinion. I feel we should also have the correct supplies on hand for these situations, and if the staff in Geraldton need further training, then I believe they should be provided with it so these errors are not made. I’m disappointed that the protocol in regards to sending photos to the burns unit in Perth was not followed. I’m also disappointed that I believe there was not 1 nurse available to aid the Dr in applying the dressing because it was so busy. However, it seemed there were 4 nurses checking and taking PCR tests to get into the hospital. I recall the hospital was so busy at the time and I felt more nurses were needed in the ED.

Our next visit to the Acute clinic came with photos been sent to the burns clinic in Perth and more follow up info.