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The once-pioneering burn unit at Cook County's new Stroger Hospital could be losing its coveted top ranking after surveyors from a national organization for specialists expressed concerns during a recent evaluation. Meanwhile, the director for the last five years who helped the unit attain its "verified" status from the American Burn Association has announced her resignation, and the unit has temporarily closed its intensive-care section to critically injured patients. "I choose not to work in a non-verified burn center," said Dr. Barbara Latenser, who declined further comment when contacted by a reporter and referred questions to the hospital's administration. Latenser's last day is Monday, and the next day the second of the unit's three surgeons will begin a family leave. Citing the staffing shortage, hospital officials have temporarily closed the burn unit's six intensive-care beds to critical patients, moving them to the trauma ICU. Hospital officials say the quality of care will not be affected because burn nurses and other staffers still will be treating the patients. They plan to reopen the burn ICU to critical patients shortly after an interim director, who officials said was tapped Wednesday, can take over and get up to speed. The main concern of surveyors for the ABA was that the pediatric burn patients were not located with other burn patients, said Dr. Bradley Langer, Stroger Hospital's medical director. Specifically, the non-critical pediatric burn patients were being placed in the main pediatric unit on the fourth floor. Langer said hospital officials felt it was appropriate to locate children with children. He said other issues likely would be cited in a formal letter the hospital is anticipating from the association. Until the hospital receives the letter, Langer would not confirm Latenser's comment that the unit would lose its verified status, which expires June 8. Verification is a voluntary joint program of the ABA and the American College of Surgeons. The process is confidential although the ABA publishes a list of burn centers, noting those that have achieved the status. Dr. Richard Gamelli, president of the ABA, declined to talk specifically about Stroger Hospital. However, he explained that verification is a way for burn centers to show they rank with the best. "You want to be as good as you can be," said Gamelli, director of the Burn and Shock Trauma Institute at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Loyola will begin the process of seeking its fourth three-year verification this fall, he said. The only other verified burn center in Illinois is at University of Chicago Hospitals. ABA literature describes verification as a "rigorous program designed to verify a burn center's resources that are required for the provision of optimal care to burn patients from the time of injury through rehabilitation." "Burn Center verification provides a true mark of distinction for a burn center," it adds. Verification of burn centers started a little more than a decade ago. It grew out of the development of the American College of Surgeons' verification process that designates trauma centers with now-familiar titles such as Level I and Level II. Verification is not the same as a hospital's accreditation, and the facility will continue to operate. Stroger Hospital is accredited through the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Langer said verification for burn centers appears to be more popular in some regions of the country than others. For example, the burn center at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, a member of the renowned Johns Hopkins Health System in Maryland, is not verified. Nevertheless, verification was a status the county sought for the unit, and attained, three years ago. Latenser, 51, is paid $360,000 a year, one of the hospital's highest salaries. She came to Cook County from Pittsburgh in March 1999 during a roughly two-year period when critical burn patients, as with the present temporary situation, were treated in the trauma ICU. A year later, the critical patients were reintegrated into the burn ICU, and in June 2001 the unit achieved the "verified" status, all while it was still located in the old children's hospital next to the now abandoned Cook County Hospital. The 2002 Report to the Community from the Cook County Bureau of Health Services boasted: "The hospital is nationally known for its verified (accredited) burn care center, the second-oldest in the country and the first burn service in Illinois." In December 2002 the new Stroger Hospital opened with 18 burn beds, split between six in the ICU unit on the third floor and 12 "step-down" beds for recovering patients on the 8th floor. In the old setting, all of the burn patients were on the same floor. Taken alone, the current separation would not necessarily be an issue for the burn experts surveying the hospital, Gamelli said. But they likely would want to know how the hospital makes the layout work and what the manpower distribution is as they seek evidence of a comprehensive plan of care. Gamelli said many aspects come into play in the verification process, including how a burn center strives for improvement, level of staff training and support from the institution as a whole. Asked about the departing director, Gamelli said: "I think Dr. Latenser is a fine physician. She's been at this a long time, and she knows her business." County officials say they will weather this rough period regardless of what the letter from the ABA says. After the interim director takes over, he will begin addressing whatever concerns the ABA raises, Langer said. "We want to be verified," Langer said. "Regardless of what it means, it's nice to be verified."