The doctor's consultation room is directly connected with the treatment room so that parents can be present when treatment is carried out. - The Straits Times/ANN
SINGAPORE: Singapore’s first specialised burn centre for children officially opened on Thursday (Oct 23) at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), offering fast, integrated treatment that is stress-free and pain-free.
The centre is staffed by a multidisciplinary team of plastic surgeons, nurses, and allied health professionals such as physiotherapists and dieticians, providing full care ranging from acute treatment to rehabilitation.
Located on the second floor of the Children’s Tower, the centre is part of KKH’s ongoing efforts to enhance and expand its services and infrastructure so that it can adapt to future needs.
Every year, KKH treats up to 400 children with burn injuries, and this figure has remained consistent over the last five years.
Infants and toddlers, aged two years and below, are the most vulnerable, accounting for half of the cases. Children aged five to 10 years make up 17% of the cases.
In 2024, the top three causes of burn injuries in children were scalds from hot water and soups (71%); contact burns from irons, hair curlers, pot covers and oven doors (19%); and friction burns from treadmills and road traffic accidents (5%).
One such patient was seven-year-old Julius Lim. Attempting to pour hot water from a vacuum flask, he accidentally spilled the water on his chest, causing his skin to blister and peel.
At the emergency department, medical staff did wound debridement – the process of removing dead, damaged, or infected tissue from a wound to promote healing – and applied silicone dressing on his wounds. Julius was then sent to the burn centre for follow up.
His wound healed within one-and-a-half weeks because of the fast intervention.
Dr Gale Lim, who heads the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery at KKH, said the first hour after a child sustains a burn is most critical as “fast and effective treatment can mean the difference between life and death”.
It prevents potential complications such as shock from the excessive loss of body fluids, wound infections, deepening of burns, and lung complications in the case of smoke inhalation.
“It (also) profoundly shapes his long-term recovery and development,” Dr Lim said.
A lesson learnt by the medical team came during the fire at Tomato Cooking School in River Valley Road in April, when the majority of the 16 children affected, aged between six and 10, were brought to KKH for treatment.
One of them – a 10-year-old girl – died in the hospital.
Dr Lim said children are not small adults, and they experience pain more intensely.
“They have underdeveloped coping skills and often have great difficulty understanding what is happening to them... The pain of a burn injury can be excruciating for the child and deeply distressing for caregivers,” she added.
KKH introduced wireless microcurrent stimulation therapy (WMCS) in 2021 to enhance burn healing in children.
A pain-free treatment, it delivers electrical current to the wound surface to encourage recovery and suppress inflammatory reactions.
In a world-first WMCS trial, conducted between July 2016 and September 2021, the hospital treated 80 children with superficial partial thickness burns.
It found that the treatment sped up burn healing from an average of over eight days using conventional dressings to almost six days using WMCS.
Burn deepening rates also fell from 20.8% with conventional dressings to about 6% using WMCS, with minimal side effects.
“By prioritising comfort and emotional well-being throughout their care, we help children respond more positively to procedures to hasten healing. That’s why early, specialised care is so crucial,” Dr Lim said.
KKH is the first hospital outside the United States and Canada to receive recognition for paediatric pain management from global non-profit organisation ChildKind International in 2022.
The new burn centre has increased capacity, innovative features and streamlined processes to shorten treatment times while strengthening infection control measures.
For instance, its consultation rooms are directly connected to treatment rooms, ensuring seamless care from assessment to treatment and enhancing infection control and emergency response.
A specialised shower bed enables single-location treatment for wound cleaning and drying under general anaesthesia, eliminating the need to move young burn patients between rooms and minimising infection risks.
Previously, children with burns had to endure the entire process while awake and in pain.
Dr Lim said the current treatment process significantly reduces stress, fear and anxiety for both the children and their parents.
Julius’ mother, Kiera Chea, 41, said: “Julius was worried and fearful at first, but with the nurses explaining what they were doing and how it can help him get better faster, he seemed more relaxed and willing to have the procedures done.” - The Straits Times/ANN
