Burn Center Psychiatry Service

About the Program

The Massachusetts General Hospital Sumner Redstone Burn Center Psychiatry Service is one of the few in the country with a dedicated neuropsychiatrist working within a collaborative care model to address the various needs of burn patients in both the inpatient and outpatient hospital setting.

What to Expect

The Mass General Sumner Redstone Burn Center Psychiatry Service assists in the evaluation of patients within all locations of the hospital setting: the Department of Emergency Medicine, the Sumner Redstone Burn Center and the Lester and Nancy Fraser Outpatient Burn Center.

Patients with major burn injuries may experience neuropsychiatric effects from their injuries, including cognitive dysfunction, altered mental status, delirium, acute pain, and adjustment difficulties. Our team provides early interventional care within the acute phase of hospitalization to help minimize potential complications. During this period we closely monitor, evaluate and treat:

• Acute pain syndromes
• Acute stress reactions
• Sleep dysfunction

Our team continues to treat the majority of patients with underlying neuropsychiatric symptoms as they transition from inpatient to outpatient care. This continuity of care helps to minimize difficulties that may arise following the acute phases of injury. We work to manage the patient’s pain symptoms and psychological reactions to injury as well as the functional changes that may result from injury. As part of our multidisciplinary approach, we work with colleagues in the Acute and Critical Care Program to create an individualized outpatient treatment plan for each patient.

A Comprehensive Approach

As part of the Mass General Sumner Redstone Burn Center Psychiatry Service's comprehensive approach to care, we have an attending psychiatrist. We believe in treating each patient along the entire continuum of care, attending to both the physical and psychological symptoms that often accompany burn injuries. Our neuropsychiatrist collaborates with the rest of our team.

Expertise in Psychiatry Consultation and Psychosomatic Medicine

Our service is led by Nadia Quijije, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in acute stress of injury.

Mass General psychiatry residents, along with Mass General psychosomatic medicine fellows who receive specialized training through the Burns Center, assist Dr. Quijije in treating patients within the inpatient care setting.