Legacy Oregon Burn Center
Patient resources and education
Leaving the hospital after a burn injury
Your social worker will meet with you to arrange your discharge — either to go home or to a rehabilitation facility. Together, we will create a plan to meet your goals for a safe discharge.
This plan will include:
- Helping you get any equipment or support you need
- Determining if you are able to go home or need additional care at another facility
- Teaching you how to change your dressings (wound care bandages)
- Nutritional information to promote health
- Pain management
Follow-up appointments:
Legacy Chronic Wound and Outpatient Burn Clinic503-413-3311
Burn stretching series
- Burn 101: Hands Fingers and Web Space
- Burn 102: Pediatric Palm Burn
- Burn 103: Wrist Burn Stretch
- Burn 104: Elbow Burn Stretch
- Burn 105: Shoulder Burn Stretch
- Burn 106: Neck and Chest Burn Stretch
- Burn 107: Face Burn Stretch
- Burn 108: Foot and Leg Burn Stretch
View our full stretching playlist
Caring for your wounds
Caring for wounds after leaving the hospital is important. If you don’t care for the wound, it may not heal properly.
To change the dressings over wounds:
- Remove the old dressing and wash with soap and water.
- Look at the area before placing a new dressing. Any redness and swelling should be improving. If there is new redness and swelling, this could be a sign of infection.
- Additional signs of infection include elevated temperature, foul-smelling drainage from the wound, and generally not feeling well. You should contact your physician if you have any of these symptoms.
- How to change a Silvadene bandage
- How to change a Xeroform bandage
- Compression garments after a burn injury
- Changing a hand wrapping bandage after a burn injury
- How to change your Silavadene bandage
- How to change your Xeroform bandage
Eating to heal from a burn injury
You may need more calories
People with burn injuries may need more calories and more nutrition to help promote healing. Here are some tips:
- Eat three meals per day plus snacks, or eat smaller, more frequent meals (more than six meals per day).
- Never skip meals.
- Always keep healthy snacks nearby
- Stay away from sodas (diet and regular), sports drinks, and other sugary beverages; these drinks can fill you up without adding any nutrition. Focus on drinking milk, soy milk, milkshakes, protein shakes, and 100 percent vegetable juices or smoothies.
Protein helps with healing
Protein, a nutrient found in meats, fish, poultry, beans, legumes, nuts, eggs, and dairy, helps with wound healing by supporting skin growth and building muscle. Eat foods with protein at every meal.
Fruits and vegetables are good for health
For good general health, you should eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Daily multivitamins with minerals may help.
Pain management
- Take pain medication as prescribed by your physician at regular intervals to maintain consistent pain control, using the minimal dose needed to achieve relief.
- Take pain medication as prescribed 30 minutes before changing bandages to minimize pain related to bandage changes.
- Try to decrease the amount of pain medication gradually over time as your burn heals.
- Use other tools like music, virtual reality, and deep breathing to help with pain control.
Burn aftercare services
- The Legacy Oregon Burn Center has an Aftercare Coordinator who oversees multiple events throughout the year to support burn survivors after they have left the hospital.
- A strong SOAR (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery) peer support group made up of burn survivors who visit patients while they are still in the hospital.
- Events include support groups, cookouts with firefighters, an adult rafting trip, children’s camps, and an annual holiday gathering in December.
- Call 503-413-1727 for more information.
