Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects (DRRP) Program: Burn Injury Model System Centers

Background
The Burn Injury Model System Centers provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary services to people with burn injury as a prerequisite for conducting research that contributes to the development of and access to evidence-based burn rehabilitation. The ultimate goal is to improve the health and function, community living and participation, and employment outcomes of people with burn injury. The Burn Model System Centers generate new knowledge through site-specific research projects, collaborative projects, and contributions of data to the Burn Model System national longitudinal database.

Grant Details
Improvements in survival rates from burn injury and acknowledgement of the functional limitations that frequently follow have led to an increased focus on comprehensive rehabilitation to improve health and function, community living and participation, and school and employment outcomes for those with a burn injury. Comprehensive rehabilitation treatment teams provide a continuum of coordinated services from acute care to admission to the inpatient burn unit to outpatient services and supports, with a dual focus on physical and psychological rehabilitation. NIDILRR created the Burn Injury Model Systems (BMS) program in 1994 to provide leadership in rehabilitation as a key component of exemplary burn care and to advance the research base on effective multidisciplinary rehabilitation services for burn survivors. The mission of the BMS is to improve the lives of persons who experience burn injury by creating and disseminating new knowledge about the natural course of burn injury, and rehabilitation treatment and outcomes following burn injury. As of November 2021, BMS Centers have enrolled 6,770 participants (children and adults) in the BMS database, with follow up data available for 4,837 participants at 6-months post injury; 4,278 at 1 year post injury; and 3,639 at 2 years post injury.
Beginning in 2009, additional data collection points were added. Data are now collected 5- and 10-years post injury and every 5 years thereafter. Information is currently available for 621 participants at 5 years post injury; 429 at 10 years post injury, 129 participants at 15 years post injury, and 29 participants at 20 years post injury.

Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for a BMS grant an applicant institution must provide a multidisciplinary continuum of care for people with burn injury, including emergency medical services, acute care services, acute medical rehabilitation services, and post-acute services.

Period of Performance
60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods

Grant Value
$1,800,000 total funding with an expected number of awards being four. Award ceiling is $470,000 per budget period while award floor is $430,000 per budget period.