APPENDIX A Transmittal Letter to the Director of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center

The Director Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center B. Rodriguez Street, Cebu City Dear Sir/Madame: Greetings of Peace! We, the BSN-3, Block 2 students from the University of San Jose Recoletos will be conducting a study entitled Life after Fire: Chronicles of Burn Survivors, with the main purpose of exploring the lived experiences of burn survivors. This is in partial fulfillment of our Nursing Research I subject. In line with these, we would like to request your assistance in conducting the study. More specifically, we are asking you to permit us, the researchers to abstract previous burn patients medical records within your medical record department. The information of interest is limited to patients demographic characteristics, dates of admissions and discharges, diagnosis and procedures and address & contact information of clients to track them down and set an appointment for an interview. Rest assured that the information collected will remain confidential and will be used for research purposes only. In no instance will the name of patient or physician be recorded. The resulting report will contain only statistical summaries, which will not permit identification of patient or physician. We sincerely hope it would be possible for you to join us in our research study. Thank You!

Sincerely yours,

Mark James I. Melendres Group Leader

Noted by:

Tonette M. Villanueva, RN, MAN Research Adviser

Janus S. Fuertes, RN, MAN Dean, College of Nursing