Interactions with healthcare staff

People being treated for a burn are likely to meet a variety of healthcare professionals involved in their care. Sometimes a patient will see the same healthcare professional many times during their treatment and recovery. For the people we spoke to, interactions with healthcare staff could have a big impact on them.

This section covers:

  • Positive and negative experiences
  • Kindness and positivity
  • Empathy and understanding
  • Communication
  • Accessing help from services

Positive and negative experiences

For the people we spoke to, most of their interactions with healthcare staff were said to be positive. Medical staff were praised for being “wonderful”, “helpful” and “supportive”.

Helen Y said that the kindness of the burns staff helped her cope better with the pain.

They were very painful I think but the clinical staff – as I’ve said before – were so lovely, really, really lovely. They would deal with, they’re talking to me to keep me, keep my mind occupied elsewhere, dosing me up with painkillers, once again through multiple routes. And just the, you know, the kindness of clinical staff can really have an effect on your pain levels, I think. If they weren’t showing me any emotion at all it would have hurt a lot more, I think. But they were showing me such kindness that, yeah, that definitely helped with the pain.

You valued their support in helping with your pain management, I guess?

Definitely, definitely. And also, in between the changes I was lying in the bed and, I think I could call any time the pain was reaching a thing and they would come in and either turn up something. Once again, I’ve not quite, don’t quite remember the details but they were able to regulate my pain of my burn injuries.

Embed Print Transcript

Some said that their treatment and recovery experiences were positively enhanced by the kindness and understanding from medical staff. Saffron warmly remembered play specialists helping her through “hard times”.

Marilyn spoke highly of the staff she met whilst she was being treated for her burn. She told us that the staff at the specialist burns unit were “absolutely fantastic with me, I can’t praise them enough for the amount of work they put into making that burn better”. Tara told us that the staff at the hospital were like a family to her. She said the staff took on a “parental role” and this is “probably the reason that I’ve never feared hospitals”.

Marilyn was grateful that staff took the time to get to know her.

Well, apart from the wonderful food you mean? The food was amazing! When people say that food in hospitals is terrible – absolutely amazing. They couldn't feed you enough, you know. They were always trying to feed you up, you know, and saying you need this, you need this, and that. Yeah, every member of staff, really supportive, really supportive. Not one was awful and they were always- And also another thing they had which I thought was a great idea, they had… [Mobile phone tone] Excuse me, sorry-  So they had a board, a whiteboard and they asked me when I was in, you know, as soon as I arrived, “What do you like Marilyn, what do you like doing? what do you-, what's your thoughts and things?”. I said “Oh, I like singing” you know, that kind of thing. And he wrote that on the board, "Marilyn likes singing. Marilyn likes this. Marilyn likes that." And I thought- "What kind of food do you like, Marilyn?" And, you know, whatever, you wrote that, all that up in this board. I just thought it was amazing, so that when someone came in to chat to you, they could look at the board and say “Oh," you know, "Marilyn, you like curries”, you know, that kind of thing. I thought that was a super idea, a great idea.

Embed Print Transcript

A few people told us about difficult interactions and aspects that they felt could have been better, such as communication, accessing services and empathy (see below).

Kindness and positivity

Many of the people we spoke to expressed their gratitude for the kindness they were shown by healthcare professionals. Frazer told us that he “always felt looked after” by the burns nurses and they were always “helpful and nice”. When Sinead’s daughter, Elizabeth, was in intensive care after she was burnt, some of the burns nurses “became her friends” and, to this day, she “holds them very dear”.

Sinead recalled a time she was left a kind note by a nurse who was caring for her daughter.

And I think when you’ve got, like, a long injury, like a lifelong injury, like a burn, it never goes away, you need constant treatment, so you become very close to these people, and then they do, and it sounds like a real cliché but they do become your family. And there’s too many times, I couldn’t even point them out or remember. At one point one of the nurses, who remains, you know, working in the same place, she wrote me a note on a bit of, nurses do this, on a bit of tissue paper. She had wrote me a note to say have a lovely weekend, that she was going home to wherever she was from and that she would see us on Monday, and I kept that bit of tissue paper all folded up, and I found it quite recently, like nearly eight years later, I found it all folded up, because that small little act of somebody scribbling a note on a bit of, like, tissue paper meant so much at that time which, again, sounds crazy, but it’s just those little things, and to know somebody cares and somebody’s watching out for you is, you know, it’s huge.

And you think that was important when you were at possibly, probably the lowest point you’ve ever been at?

Yeah, and I think I remember that was a weekend, so it was a Friday, it was a Friday evening, and weekends are horrifically lonely in a hospital anyway, but just to know that somebody is thinking of you or somebody, you know, is wishing you, that you have, as good a weekend as possible while your child is, you know, lying very, very ill in an intensive care bed. But just those little things mean so much when you, like you say, you are at your lowest and you’re lonely and scared and frightened and you’ve got nobody else around, a note on a bit of tissue paper meant the world at that time.

Embed Print Transcript

Some people told us that healthcare practitioners went out of their way to help them. Amy and Chris Y told us that staff went and searched for a portable DVD player and DVDs for their son, William, when he was an inpatient at a Burns Unit.

Although the people we spoke to acknowledged that there were parts of their treatment which were unavoidably unpleasant, such as dressing changes, for the most part they regarded their time in hospital as positive. It was welcomed when healthcare staff helped create an environment that felt calm, despite the situation being potentially very stressful. Helen X told us her hospital stay was “like a spa retreat” because she felt so well looked after.

Rhian told us that her stay at the burns unit was relaxing.

Out of all my experience the Burn Unit was the most relaxing place I’ve been. Like, I don’t really go on holidays and the fact that it’s such a beautiful hospital as well, I felt like I was in a hotel. I’m not one for napping, I never stop, so the experience was really good because I’m self-employed I’m always like “I have to keep working, I have to keep working, I have to keep working”, because I had basically two weeks and that last week I couldn’t like, I was just in hospital, like couldn’t do any work, made me realise that there’s more to life. That I could just breathe. And the people were really caring, and I was in my own room.

My hospital experience was really positive. The nurses were all really kind and I was lucky because my parents could come and visit me and they could come and sit because I had my own room, they could just come and sit with me, and the hospital was a really nice environment. Like, it had a really nice like garden that was very tranquil and relaxing, and then I do remember feeling very tired, so I’d just nap a lot. I’m not one to watch TV so, like, the TV was never really on, so I think the nurses sometimes would find it a bit strange that they’d come in my room and there was no sound. But yeah, and it was quite lucky as well, the fact that I could just put my arm in a sling and go down and get a coffee or hot chocolate.

Embed Print Transcript

The positive mental attitudes of healthcare professionals within burn care were mentioned frequently by the people we spoke with. This could be encouraging for people whilst they were receiving treatment and recovering. Sabrina told us that the burns nurses “did everything they could to be helpful” and “they tried to make me smile and laugh”. Helen X and Frazer both said that the nurses were “really cheerful” and “good fun”.

Empathy and understanding

It was appreciated when healthcare professionals recognised how upsetting the situation could be for the person with the burn and their families. Marilyn told us that they were “so lovely” at a time in her life where she was “so vulnerable”. Chris X said the burns nurses had the right “combination of being human and professional”.

Sabrina told us that every person she interacted with offered her sympathy.

I had a lot of sympathy from every hospital person that I was in contact with, and I think they tried to make me smile and laugh more than they would someone older. So, I felt very supported by all of the nurses and the anaesthetist, everyone that I was, like, in contact with. Obviously, in the first hospital, I couldn't speak to them, so that was difficult. But I think it didn't seem so bad because everything was happening in such a whirlwind.

They just did everything they could to be helpful. They were really lovely, and they sort of, like, joke around like when I was obviously struggling with my eyes open, the nurse that would come in and try and open them up would be sort of like spent a lot of time like trying to guess my eye colour and things like that, I guess to distract me. And they helped to coordinate like getting our things out of the flat, and they allowed me to have my teddy, which I was very excited about. So, I was quite a chuffed little child as soon as I had my teddy back. So just things like that. They just, yeah, did what they could to help.

Embed Print Transcript

Lindsay said that the burns staff were “amazing”. She said they had empathy and were considerate.

I have to say, from the receptionist to the nurses, to the nurse that Niamh speaking of, like a children’s play person she was, to the doctor, I was mega-impressed. I mean, we had to get a train to the children’s hospital, which is like a half hour trip. So, when we went back, I think we were 10 minutes late for the first appointment and I explained, you know, “Terribly sorry, the train and then the bus” blah, blah, blah. So, when we had to go back, she made our appointment at around the same time so that we could get there. Yeah, I thought they were all amazing people. Amazing, amazing people. And you are immediately made to feel comfortable and it’s, yeah, I was super impressed, super impressed with everybody, to be honest with you.

Did it make the experience easier, with that positive environment?

Definitely, definitely. It’s the first time that, in the lives of all three of my children, that we’ve ended up at a children’s hospital and our local hospital, which is about a half hour away from here, that’s a big hospital. So, when you go in and get told by them that you’ve got to go to the Children’s Burn Unit, you think 'Oh Lord!' and that, yeah, I mean I wasn’t like 'Oh my God!' or anything but it’s just like 'Mm, I thought this wasn’t great…' You know, 'I was right to take her, I was right to be nervous of this burn'. But they just made the whole process, just comfortable. It was superb, I have to say it was superb. And actually, when you, we got off at the train station and they actually run a free bus every sort of 15 minutes or something, I think it is to run you up there. And, you know, even down to that, the bus driver was lovely. Everybody was just lovely, because you’re certainly, when you’re going to a children’s hospital, the last place any parent wants to be is in a children’s hospital with their child. And everybody just had empathy and was kind and considerate and smiley and yeah, amazing, amazing people.

Embed Print Transcript

However, a few people we spoke with felt that some healthcare professionals who treated them had not been as empathetic as they would have liked. When Haydn struggled to administer an eyewash into his eye, he thought that the staff “weren’t very sympathetic” and “seemed a bit frustrated that I couldn’t do that”.

Jasmine felt that a better balance of empathy was needed.

Yeah. They even said to me "It’s not that bad, they’ll be fine."

How did that make you feel, when they said it’s not that bad?

I was surprised that they said that. They said, I think she said to me “I don’t even think you should be here. We only treat people with…” I think they do a certain percentage and higher, and they were surprised when we arrived, and they took off the bandage that was there. To me, it looked hideous and awful, you know, but obviously they see these every day and they said they didn’t, they didn’t send me away, obviously, but they said, you know, they looked at each other, the two, and said “Oh, this isn’t bad. We deal with much worse than this.” So, I mean, they might, but that’s not my problem. You know, that’s not something that they need to say in front of me. They need to treat it and I think that they probably would have provided the same level of knowledge and care to someone who had a far worse injury. They would have given them their pamphlet; they would have said "This is all really normal. Come back weeks 2, 4 & 6” or whatever it was.

I think you recalled that they kind of looked at each other and were like “Oh, it’s not that bad.” How did that make you feel?

Yeah, I think it depends on how you look at it. I mean, I looked at it in a way that 'Ok, well, maybe I should feel a little bit better about this. This isn’t that bad, ok, and they’ve seen far worse, which means people do heal, they do recover.' So, I thought 'ok'… I felt reassured, but when it’s your child suffering and going through that process, you also want a balance of empathy and that didn’t exist. So, there needed to be a bit more balance there.

Embed Print Transcript

Some people told us that they felt “reassured” by the burns staff and that there was “no judgement” from them. This was especially important for parents like Chris X, who had worried about being seen as ‘unfit parents’ when their child had been burnt, but also people who were burnt as adults who feared the circumstances of their accident might be judged. Justyn said that the environment of the clinic he attended “has been a very safe, it has been very, kind of, non-judgmental”. Lindsay said that “from receptionists to the nurses”, she was “immediately made to feel comfortable”.

Communication

It was important to people we spoke to that healthcare professionals communicated clearly with them and used language that was easy to understand. Helen X described herself as being quite “curious”, so she appreciated that “the doctors are brilliant, they explained it all”.

However, Rhian told us that some medical staff used “doctor language” and didn’t always speak to her directly. She said that, because she grew up having dyslexia, she has had years of practice asking people for clarification, so she felt confident telling doctors that she didn’t understand – but that others might not feel able to do this.

It could be difficult to hear from healthcare professionals that they weren’t yet sure how serious the burn injury was or what outcome there would be. Although some people disliked this uncertainty, others felt that it was important healthcare professionals were honest and didn’t try to give false reassurance.

Sinead felt like a “glimmer of hope” had been taken away from her after she received differing information when one surgeon said her daughter would be able to play the piano when she grew up and then her daughter needed to have parts of her fingers removed.

Sinead felt like a “glimmer of hope” had been taken away from her after one surgeon said her daughter would be able to play the piano when she grew up and then her daughter needed to have parts of her fingers removed.

So, when they were telling me that she would lose all her fingers, I couldn’t understand but why? Like, they’re there so why, you know? So, I suppose, you’re a bit naïve and I’m thinking, you know, all these things. I remember somebody telling me, a surgeon, that she’d be able to play the piano, she wasn’t going to lose as much of her fingers, and he thought she’d be able to play the piano, and I was like “Oh my God, thank God, she can play the piano. That’s amazing!”. And then, the following day, another surgeon came in and said, “You know, I know you’ve been told this, but she’ll never be able to play a piano.” And I burst out crying in, like, despair of my child wouldn’t be-, my six-month old baby won’t be able to play a piano! It’s, it all sounded so, I was so disappointed and a couple of hours later me and my husband were walking down the corridor and I burst out laughing and he said, “What are you laughing at?” and I said, “I can’t believe that we’re crying that she won’t be able to play the piano. Like, there’s no-one in our family that can play any musical instrument”. So, I don’t know why it had become so important at that time that, it was like somebody giving me a glimmer of hope that she wasn’t going to lose all her fingers and then, the next day you’re told “Oh, actually she won’t be able to play the piano anymore” that she could never play to begin with. So, I suppose my understanding of burn injury. I knew it was bad but nothing quite like what we faced. And I suppose I didn’t have an appreciation on the kind of lifelong effects of a burn injury.

Embed Print Transcript

William said the doctors spoke to him like he was a “grown-up”.

Yeah, at some points they did speak to me like I was a grown-up, but in other points no, they spoke to me like a child. So, when I had just come in, they were speaking… well, what, from what I could actually hear, they were speaking to me like I, in very, very simple words that I knew what was going on but didn’t have to actually do any brain processing power to actually know what was going on. Whilst later on, they did use more complicated words but, but yeah.

Embed Print Transcript

Accessing help from services

For a few people, there had been barriers to accessing medical care for burns. Some felt that medical staff hadn’t been as helpful as they would have liked in helping them use the services.

Lindsay was instructed by burns specialists to attend her local GP surgery to have her daughter’s dressings changed but was initially told that there “were no appointments available”. Marilyn experienced something similar when she was told to make a GP appointment to have her dressing changed, but the surgery were, “short-staffed” so she had to wait a few days. This resulted in Marilyn’s burn becoming infected.

Lindsay was met with resistance when she tried to make an appointment for her daughter’s dressing to be changed.

To be fair, they were actually very good and slotted us in on that first day. She wasn’t "Oh, of course, let me help you", but she did get the job done. But it was more then, the nurse herself, that was a bit like "Oh well, we don’t have any appointments." And I’m thinking ‘Well, I’m not sure what you want me to do…’ You know, 'for a 10-minute dressing change I don’t really want to travel 30 miles on a train'. So, yeah.

But I think that the breakdown in the communication there, even a letter from them [the burns specialist] to say “Our advice is this. We’ve provided …” and I’m almost sure in saying that when I gave the nurse the pack that I’d been given from the hospital and said about these dressings, and she was like “Oh right, ok” and was sort of reading about them herself. So, not necessarily come across them. But, yeah, it was the blasé attitude “Well, we don’t have the appointments.” “Well, it looks to me like it’s healing fine.” And I’m like 'Well, ok', not, you know, 'I don’t know what else to say here', sort of thing. So, a letter from them to the GP’s surgery saying like “Within reason, we insist on this treatment plan for the next fortnight until we see this patient again", or, a phone call saying “We are Dr so and so. Our recommendation is…” would be easier than a mum going in there worried about her child’s hand saying, “Yes, but”. So yeah, that, I think, would be something that would be better if it was done that way. An email, an anything, you know, just an anything to, I suppose, clarify what the worried parent is then going in and asking for.

Embed Print Transcript

The structure of healthcare services for burn injuries can be confusing too. You can read more in these sections about people’s experiences of the different medical services for burns, including specialist burn facilities, and inpatient, outpatient and follow-up care.

We’d love to hear your feedback about this site. Please let us know your thoughts here.