PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Staff from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s burn unit and its Center for EMS traveled to Portsmouth on Monday to walk firefighters and paramedics through a detailed review of their response to an Aug. 16 call that left two patients with critical burns, the Portsmouth Fire Department said.
The run review, held at the department’s Central Station, examined the crews’ response and patient care in the field, as well as how the two patients fared after they reached OSU’s burn center, including their treatment and ongoing recovery, according to a post from the department.
The case was brought back to Portsmouth by Dr. Ariel Rodgers, a physician with OSU’s burn program, and Sarah Shpil, a burn unit nurse, along with Kimberly Thomson and Glen Keating, senior outreach coordinators with OSUMC’s Center for EMS. The department said it was privileged to host the team.
Such run reviews are a standard part of continuing education for fire and EMS crews, allowing hospital staff to close the loop with first responders on what happened to patients after they were handed off, and to validate the skills used in the field. The department said this kind of debrief is especially important for calls involving low-frequency, high-risk procedures, like those required to stabilize critically burned patients, where responders may not get regular hands-on practice.
Ohio State’s Comprehensive Burn Center is one of only two adult burn centers in Ohio verified by the American Burn Association, a distinction reserved for programs that meet national standards of care from the time of injury through rehabilitation. It is the only ABA-verified adult burn center serving central Ohio, making it a referral point for critical burn cases from across the region, including the Scioto Valley.
The department publicly recognized five members for their direct patient care on the August call: Battalion Chief/Paramedic Jared Canter, Capt./Paramedic Scott Osborne, Lt./Paramedic Aaron Rawlins, firefighter/AEMT Zack Hayes and firefighter/EMT Ethan Goode.
The Portsmouth Fire Department said it continues to keep the two patients from the Aug. 16 incident in its thoughts as they recover.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Portsmouth Fire Department.
