Grants We Funded

Abstract

Project Summary: Assessing burn depth can be difficult, even among skilled burn surgeons. Incorrect burn depth assessment can misinform treatment plans, which can have detrimental outcomes for burn patients. Adequate training in burn wound management is critical, and mandated by the RRC. However, many plastic surgery residency programs may be geographically limited in their access to proper training or time to pursue thoughtful burn training. Surgical simulation could alleviate this, but few burn surgical simulation models currently exist. ??The present grant proposal seeks to improve surgical training in burns care by 1) developing and validating a novel digital simulation model for burn wound management, 2) creating an objective surgical skills assessment tool to evaluate the learning surgeon, and 3) conducting a randomized controlled trial utilizing the validated simulation model and objective assessment tool. This simulation model will not only improve accessibility for resident training, but also could help reduce variability in patient outcomes and overall minimize the complications that may follow inadequate burn wound management. Because there is no current model for burn wound management, this novel open-access simulation would improve burn surgery training, improve resident accessibility, and overall improve patient care.

Impact Statement: Burn depth assessment poses challenges for even skilled burn surgeons. When done incorrectly, it leads to delayed surgical treatment and detrimental outcomes for burn patients. Consequences of untimely, inadequate treatment include increased wound infections, sepsis, scarring, contractures, functional impairment, prolonged hospitalization, and greater costs. A burn depth assessment simulation for resident training could improve skill accuracy and minimize poor patient outcomes. This simulation, paired with a prospective cohort study, could quantify and validate the model's efficacy and monitor resident progression over time. This is crucial for all institutions, especially those with no nearby burn center, to adequately train general and plastic surgeons.

Biography
Dr. Justin Gillenwater, MD, MS is an Assistant Professor of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery and Burn & Critical Care at the LAC+USC medical center and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He attended medical school at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and graduated Alpha Omega Alpha. He then completed his master’s of science in clinical and biomedical investigations with a focus in global health at the University of Southern California. Dr. Gillenwater went on to complete a residency in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery and a fellowship in Burn & Critical Care at the University of Southern California. Dr. Gillenwater is recognized for his research regarding acute burn management, methods of burn size and depth assessment, racial disparities in burn patient outcomes, new technologies for burn wound coverage, machine learning, and reconstructive techniques for burn scar contractures. As the current Medical Director of the Southern California Regional Burn Center at LAC+USC, he sees high variability and challenges of clinical burn wound evaluation from providers at all levels of burn expertise. His goal is to improve burn wound evaluation that is accessible, convenient, and accurate through computer-aided technologies or resident training/education.