Ukrainian medical team visits Parkland Burn Center to learn burn care techniques amid war
Surgeons, nurse exchange knowledge with Parkland specialists
A delegation of four burn surgeons and a nurse from Ukraine is visiting the Parkland Burn Center to observe and learn techniques they can bring back to their country, where Russian drone and missile strikes have caused severe burn injuries among military personnel and civilians.
Organized by the Christian Medical Association of Ukraine, the month-long visit includes observing surgeries, morning rounds, wound care, and outpatient clinics. The visitors also completed an Advanced Burn Life Support course.
Roman Chornopyshchuk, MD, of Vinnytsia, Ukraine, said it has been an honor to visit one of the world’s leading burn centers.
“To be here to connect with great specialists and to help us improve our abilities to see the best quality of burn care, it’s a great chance for us,” said Dr. Chornopyshchuk, who works at the Center for Thermal Injury and Plastic Surgery. “Of course, it’s a little difficult to take everything, all the knowledge and skills, and quickly implement them in our country. It’s a lot of resources and a lot of time, but there are some steps we can take rather quickly. I hope that it will help increase the quality of care rather seriously.”
He was fascinated by RECELL therapy, which uses a patient’s own skin cells to treat burns, and by Parkland’s multidisciplinary approach to burn care, which includes social support, occupational therapy and nutrition.
He said increasingly targeted drone attacks on Ukraine are causing severe, deep injuries, particularly to the upper extremities and torso. Medical teams also treat shrapnel wounds and infections while facing shortages of wound dressings and equipment.
The exchange of knowledge goes both ways, said Parkland Burn Center Medical Director Samuel Mandell, MD, MPH, FACS, FABA, and Professor of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
“One of the things that is universally true is that war quickens the pace of medical development,” Dr. Mandell said. “You learn a lot about trauma and injury care through conflicts.”
The teams have discussed treatment protocols and how to provide care with limited supplies and staffing.
“We have a lot of conversations about how we use different tools and how you prioritize things given resource constraints,” Dr. Mandell said. “They’re in a situation not of their own making. They are not typical visitors. Not only are they here trying to learn, but they are also coming from an active war zone. They talk about how, when they are in the hospital, and then they must go to a bomb shelter.”
For Parkland Burn Center Associate Nurse Manager Alina Ruiz, MSN, RN, CBRN, the visit has been especially meaningful. Ruiz moved from Ukraine to the United States at age 13 and has helped coordinate the team’s schedule and provide translation, particularly for visiting nurse Sofia Mavdrik, who does not speak English.
“I’ve been able to connect who I am today professionally at Parkland with who I am personally,” she said. “It’s very endearing to be able to spend time with them. I just kind of ended up being the unofficial tour guide.”
Ruiz has worked closely with Mavdrik, exchanging information about burn dressings, wrapping techniques, medical devices and staffing.
“I’ve learned from all five of them that the biggest challenge is resources. But in passing conversation, they share things that make me think: How can we grow in that direction? How can our unit be better at these certain things?” she said. “They are an example of crisis management. We discuss disaster preparedness a lot, and they have shown by example how you figure out how to pick up and still go regardless.”
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The visitors have also shared personal experiences of the war, including seeking shelter from attacks and losing loved ones.
Anton Kovalenko, MD, works in an intensive care unit in Kyiv, Ukraine, and often treats military personnel with burns and shrapnel injuries. At Parkland, he has been particularly interested in observing surgeries and learning about RECELL therapy, skin grafting and wound dressings.
“Each patient for us is very interesting,” he said. “We’re very glad to see the modern technology and treatment. In Ukraine, we don’t have enough of everything. We don’t have enough nurses, which is our main problem. We don’t have enough dressings. We have no RECELL technology. But we try to do our best.”
On a recent afternoon, the Ukrainian team visited Parkland patient Brent English, an electrician who suffered burns when his shirt caught on fire during an electrical arc flash while he was working in North Texas. The visitors accompanied English as he received wound care and hydrotherapy in a “tank room.”
“I think it’s great that they’re here, especially with what’s going on in their country,” he said of the Ukrainian team.
“Thank you, sir,” a doctor responded.
“Don’t mind being a guinea pig so you can learn,” he joked with the doctors, and they laughed and smiled in response. English added that he was very thankful that he was taken to Parkland for specialized burn care.
Dr. Mandell said that it’s been a privilege to host the Ukrainian medical team.
“As much as they came to see what we do here and learn from us, we learn a ton from them,” he said. “It’s great to talk to them in the operating room. They get to see what I’m doing, and I get to talk to them about what they would do or how they might handle a case. It’s really been more of an exchange than anything else.”
For more information about the Parkland Burn Center, visit www.parklandhealth.org/burn-unit.
For more information about services available at Parkland, please visit http://www.parklandhealth.org.
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