417 The Value of a Dedicated Multi-Disciplinary Team in the Outpatient Setting

Abstract Introduction The American Burn Association verification requirement states that burn patients require outpatient burn follow- up. Within our Burn Center, we have a dedicated Outpatient Burn Clinic and multidisciplinary outpatient burn team that allows for consistency of care and follow through for our patients. Methods Our Outpatient Burn clinic includes10 exam rooms and is operational 5 days a week. It is located within the Burn Center adjacent to the inpatient unit and has access to hydrotherapy, procedural areas and an outpatient gymnasium for burn rehabilitation. The outpatient team consists of burn surgeons, nurse practitioners, a registered nurse, physical and occupational therapists, central registrar, clinic scheduler, a care tech, and a medical assistant all of which are budgeted for full time hours. Burn surgeons have direct access to the burn clinic for preoperative and postoperative evaluations. The burn clinics location allows for enhanced continuity of care and opportunities for patients to meet the outpatient burn team prior to their discharge. Results Since expanding the burn clinic to 10 rooms and our multidisciplinary outpatient team in 2013, our outpatient visit volumes have grown from 3400 visits in 2013 to 4600 visits in 2016. In addition to the increase in outpatient visits, we have increased the number of patients treated as strictly outpatients with no inpatient admission from 340 in 2014 to 435 in 2016. A member of the outpatient burn team participates in weekly inpatient burn rounds and conference to learn of inpatients and their course prior in preparation for discharge. Additionally, the outpatient nursing and therapy teams provide weekly updates to the inpatient team after discharge on any outlier in another facility to include medical, rehab and wound updates to the team. This allows conversation to occur with the entire team including our burn surgeons as issues or loop closure needs arise. Conclusions The benefit of a dedicated on site multidisciplinary burn OP team incorporated into the burn center allows for immediate bidirectional communication; planning; increased patient safety; and continuity of coordination and transition of care. This outpatient clinic design allows for a larger team approach for the patient, as well as maintaining a consistent plan of care. Having the burn clinic located within the burn center allows for ease in transition of care, direct availability of medical leadership and ease of retur