PAM Committee Members

Short autobiography
I’m a physical therapist working as a post-doctoral research assistent at the University of Antwerp, Department of Medicine and Health Schiences. I finished a PhD on burn scar assessments and physiotherapy treatments in collaboration with Oscare, a (burn) scar after-care and research centre located in Antwerp, Belgium. I combine research activities with teaching responsibilities in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy.

Reason for joining the PAM committee
Sharing knowledge and working together with others on new innovative and creative projects is what I’m passionate about. I think scientific reserach and further development of existing care within the PAM burn care is crucial to maintain and in collaboration further develop the good quality multidisciplinary care that our burn patients need.

Current focus in relation to the EBA PAM committee
Physiotherapy, Quality of life, Burn assessment, After-care, Patient reported outcome measures and the International Classification of functioning Disability and Health.

I’m an occupational therapist and I’ve worked within burns care for over seven years with our service catering for both adults and children from critical care through to outpatients. I’m predominantly based within our adult ward coordinating patient rehabilitation.

Reason for Joining the PAM committee

Burn injuries have the potential to have such a life altering impact both in the short and longer term that they require the unique professional skillsets of a diverse multi-professional team. Coming together at an international level, not only further enhances our ability to optimise the experience and recovery of these patients but to work towards standardising their care for a more equitable future ensuring all patients receive the best care and therefore outcomes.

Current focus in relation to EBA PAM Committee

I hope to be able to work in conjunction with my PAM colleagues, bringing a focus on function and optimising quality of life.

(Country – United Kingdom Profession – Occupational Therapist Workplace – St. Andrews Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, England)

Before I decided to become a nurse, I studied economy and business administratition. For some reason this didn’t really catch my interest. I switched field, and graduated as a registered nurse in 1994. I specialised in intensive care nursing two years later and started to work in the National Burn Unit (now Burn Centre) at Haukeland University Hospital. I have worked there since.. During the years at the Burn Unit, I had my two children. I also took a master’s degree in nursing science.

My reasons for joining the PAM committee

I consider the PAM committee a unique platform for cooperating internationally with fellow colleagues, sharing knowledge and experiences. Also for rising awareness of the challenges we meet in our daily work, and together find solutions.  In growing together we can  improve our practice to the best for our burn patients.

Current focus in relation to EBA PAM committee.

A multidisciplinary team approach in burn care is essential. My focus is first and foremost on inspiring and lifting the members of the Burn Team. I believe in the importance of exchanging experiences, aiming for the best possible practice.

As a nurse for more than 10 years at the pediatric burns centre of the CHUV in Lausanne, Switzerland, I have always been interested in the global care of children with burns.

This is why I am committed to improving the quality of psychosocial care for child burn victims and their families, in particular by developing a multidisciplinary care programme for these aspects and by participating in the annual camp for burned children organised by the Flavie association.

Privately, I am married and mother of three children. I love hiking and sharing moments with friends and family.

I am a Burn nurse (training in France) and scrub nurse (diploma from Switzerland) and also have a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from Antwerpen in Belgium. I am fluent in French and English and the lead nurse for Interburns nursing training. I worked in Burn care in France and in the UK and in many countries with less resources through Interburns and MSF. I am in charge since its creation, of a 5 days interactive course ABC Advance Burn Course for Nurses, developed and delivered by an international faculty in 4 countries (Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal and Ethiopia) between 2016 and 2019.

I supervised a mentorship in Quality Improvement of small sustainable projects in burn care for Nurses, Physiotherapists and Dieticians in 2021, trained UKMED staff for deployment in Burn Care online  and European Teams in Burn for Rapid Response Teams funded by the EU (with trainings in October 2022, December 2022, and early 2023 in the Netherlands). I translated a lot of educational material from English to French. I recently helped to develop a course for Nurses for three topics that can be taught online (Nutrition, infection control, pain management) and was part of the Interburns team in Tanzania first course face to face since the restrictions in March 2022.

On a more personal note, I travelled to India with my husband Tom Potokar and our 2 boys to set up Interburns training centre in Indore in collaboration with Choithram Hospital. With another family and a cameraman, we organised a ten days trip travelling from Kathmandu in Nepal through India to Dhaka in Bangladesh, made a film which raised 35000 pounds for Interburns. I have dedicated my carrier to the improvement of Burn Care globally through multi-disciplinary approach.

Short autobiography
I have been working at the Helsinki Burn Centre since I graduated as a nurse in 2003. Our Burn Centre cares for burn patient’s trough out the whole care process, intensive care, ward and outpatient clinic. At the moment, I am a Junior Charge nurse at the Helsinki Burn Centre. Currently I am also studying on my Master degree in Advanced clinical care.

Reason for joining the PAM committee
To be able to provide the best care for the burn patients and their relatives we need to work in interprofessional team. We can also benefit greatly from sharing experiences and knowledge with each other internationally. As a part of the PAM committee I hope to gain many new contacts to help us get better at what we do.

Current focus in relation to the EBA PAM committee
My focus will be to collaborate with the PAM section and activities at the EBA 2019 congress in Helsinki.

I finished my nursing training in Lugano in 2010 before working in the Burns Center at the Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery in Zurich (both Switzerland). After obtaining the Master of Science in Nursing in 2014 I implemented my role as APN alined along the entire pathway for care and support of burn patients. Since then I have accompanied patients from intensive care, general plastics ward and coordinated their transfer to rehabilitation. Follow-up continues in the outpatient setting, where I lead the interdisciplinary consultations, and offer among other options Camouflage. In 2021 I moved to Graz and started working in the Division of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery with my task being the implementation of an APN post in the EBA-certified burn centre. In an to me entirely new health care system, the adventure begins anew. I continue working in Zurich on a monthly basis (one week per month).

Reason for joining the PAM committee

The possibility of an interdisciplinary and international exchange in the care of burn patients and their relatives fascinates me. I would like to be part of the PAM Committee because I want to actively engage myself in improving care for patients with burn injuries and in this collaboration, I see the possibility to share my experiences and especially to listen and learn from other disciplines and other cultures/health care systems – in order to better support every affected person.

Current focus

My main interests are to accompany patients with burn injuries through the entire pathway, from the beginning of their treatment journey until they return to everyday life, and to do so in an interdisciplinary and specialized team.

I am interested in the topic of body image alteration and in the consequences for the affected person, and I am concerned in finding non-surgical solutions to help them feel more comfortable in their body, ranging from camouflage to sexuality counseling.

The first step as a new member of the PAM Committee is to get to know the colleagues and to learn how to best contribute to the teamwork.