Who should you contact for burn center criteria?

• A. UCSD
• B. Rady Children's Hospital
• C. Sharp Memorial Hospital
• D. Scripps Memorial

Answer: (A)

Burn center criteria come from the regional burn center, so you contact that center to confirm whether a patient meets transfer guidelines and to get the specific criteria used for eligibility. The UCSD Burn Center is the designated regional center in this system, and they provide the on-call guidance and transfer coordination you need to determine if a burn patient should be admitted to a burn unit.

Understanding the criteria helps ensure patients receive specialized care quickly. Typical factors include the extent of burn (percent TBSA), whether critical areas are involved (face, airway, hands, feet, genitalia, joints), inhalation injury, chemical or electrical burns, and burns with other significant trauma or in pediatric patients. The other hospitals may stabilize or manage routine cases, but the official criteria and transfer decisions come from the regional burn center, which in this context is UCSD.