At the 2022 ANZBA allied health forum, a gap was identified in learning opportunities for clinicians working in burn care who are unable to attend the annual scientific meeting. This was attributed to multiple factors for example, the need for staff to continue clinical care or rotating out of burn’s. The ANZBA allied health committee proposed that shorter education sessions may offer a solution.
Virtual educations were chosen to deliver education sessions, firstly this enabled access across five time zones to be inclusive of each state and country and secondly this offered more opportunity for access. The committee made the decision to not restrict access to ANZBA members only. Microsoft Teams was chosen as this required each participant to register to ensure the content was shared appropriately.
Three burns virtual care meetings have been held to date with 249 participants. Topics presented were: “How therapists manage big burns”, “Burn Care Rehabilitation Beyond the Burn Unit” and “Psychosocial Considerations after a Burn when Returning to Community”. Presenters included physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and social workers with representation from different states /countries. Responses to evaluation was low for all sessions. However key learnings identified included- learning what an unstable scar was, the importance of a multidisciplinary approach, and how length of stay has changed over time.
While the response rate to the evaluation remains low- the overwhelming feedback is for these education sessions to continue and for the inclusion of surgical and wound care topics.