Editor's Note: In this interview, Maria Goddard, MD, CWS, FAPWCA discusses a memorable case from her practice in the inpatient setting and some strategies that helped create a positive outcome. 

Transcript

Hello, my name is Dr. Maria Goddard, MD, CWS, FAPWCA and I'm a burn and wound care physician who lives in the state of Kansas.

What was your most memorable case?

When I was involved in inpatient burn care, we took care of pediatric as well as geriatric patients and it's always most heartbreaking to take care of those younger patients because they don't understand what's going on, the pain is difficult to manage, sometimes the parents can't be there all the time and so they become a part of your family. 

And we took care of an 11-year-old who was the bravest patient I have ever taken care of. He was large to low burn percentage area burn, so he required multiple grafts and excisions and spent quite a bit of time with us but he really bonded with the team and just would do everything that we asked him to do, he would go forth and do it, take care in therapy and it was challenging but getting him to the end and getting him discharged and then seeing him come back to visit later and yearly as he got better and he got back to being a kid who was playing and being active again. 

About the Speaker

Maria Goddard, MD, CWS, FAPWCA is a board-certified wound care specialist in the Midwest. She received training in general surgery at Wake Forest School of Medicine and completed fellowship training in burn surgery at both the University of Tennessee-Memphis and the University of Kansas Medical Center. She is board certified in wound care by both the American Board of Wound Management and the American Board of Wound Healing. She is an instructor for Advanced Burn Life Support and a member of the Global Health Committee of the American Burn Association. Dr Goddard also currently serves as the Chair of the Communications Committee and member of the Education Steering Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care. She has practiced in multiple care settings, including long-term care, and her extensive training, research, and clinical experiences provide a unique perspective of wound management. Her mission is to bridge the gaps that exist among care settings because of differences in regulations and resource availability. Her interests include burn care, geriatrics, global health, telemedicine, and reducing disparities in health care.