As South Carolina's only pediatric burn referral center, MUSC Children's Hospital provides specialized burn treatment to children who have suffered burns and offers community education to help prevent burns from occurring.

MUSC's pediatric burn team has treated more than 350 hospitalized children over the past five years and provides more than 400 outpatient visits per year in a facility that has been ranked as the top children's hospitals in the Southeast.

The treatment of children with burns requires input from a number of health care disciplines. Each child is cared for by up to four attending physicians, a burn nurse specialist, burn care technician, child life therapist, pharmacist, nutritionist, occupational and physical therapists and social workers. Additional specialists are available to meet the specific needs of each child, including critical care and psychiatric services.

While our burn team manages the spectrum of burns from minor to severe, approximately 80 percent of cases seen by our team are burns of less than 10 percent total body surface area.

We combine pediatric surgery and pediatric burn care, an approach that gives specialized age-specific care in serving the needs of our young patients. "The care we give our patients focuses on the child's quality of life during and after hospitalization and outpatient care," said Jill Evans, RN, MSN, who coordinates the program.

Our burn team is also active in burn research projects, including clinical work on the use of temporary skin substitutes, assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder, and basic science research onthe role of cytokines in major burn injuries.

According to the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, accidental injuries are the leading cause of death among children ages 14 and younger. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), burns and fires are the sixth most common cause of accidental death in children and adults, and account for nearly 4,500 adult and child deaths per year. The key to reducing childhood burn injuries is prevention.

Burns destroy tissue. When skin is burned, it cannot prevent the entry of germs, prevent loss of body fluid, or control body temperature.

The severity of the burn depends on the depth of the burn; the size of the burn; the location of the burn; the age of the child; the source of the burn; and the health of the child prior to the burn injury.

To protect your child, it is important to understand the types of burns and the most common causes of burns. Practice fire safety and burn awareness at all times. Teach your children how to avoid sources of burns and what to do in the case of a fire. Should your child be burned, emergency care may be necessary.