Are you thinking about becoming a wound care nurse? Wound care nursing is an excellent career field to enter as a nurse. This article will discuss the job overview of a wound care nurse, job setting, educational requirements, salary, and like & dislikes.
What is a Wound Care Nurse?
This is a specialty of nursing where the nurse concentrates on wound care of a patient. Wound care nurses assess, monitor, treat patient’s wounds and provide education to patients and their families.
They are consulted by the health care team to treat wounds and develop a plan of care for the health care team to follow. For instance, a place where I worked the doctor would consult a wound care nurse, who would come in assess the wound, develop a treatment plan, implement it, and then develop a plan of care for the nurses to follow in taking care of the wound.
They care for all types of wounds such as burns, diabetic/arterial ulcers, pressure ulcers, assist with hyperbaric therapy (HBO) etc. It is important to note that a wound care nurse can become certified to not only care for wounds but ostomies & continence issues as well. Below I discuss the different types of certifications a nurse can obtain through WOCNCB.org.
Video on Wound Care Nursing
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Where do Wound Care Nurses Work?
- Wound care clinics
- Hospitals
- Home Health
- Long Term Care Facilities
- Hospice
Typical Job hours of a Wound Care Nurse
Generally, they work Monday-Friday (8-5 pm), but this depends solely on the type of job setting you choose to work. A nurse who works in a clinic may work 8-5 pm. While a wound care nurse in a hospital may work three 12 hours shifts per week.
How to become a Wound Care Nurse
You have to a BSN nursing degree and an active RN license. You must meet the WOCNCB board requirements. They offer many different certifications to be a wound care nurse.
Most employers prefer you have some type of wound care certification. These certification programs typically take 2-3 months to complete (includes lecture and clinical time). After completing the program you must pass a certification exam in the specialty you choose to earn.
Most common wound care certified programs:
- CWOCN®: Certified Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nurse
- CWCN®: Certified Wound Care Nurse
- COCN®: Certified Ostomy Care Nurse
- CCCN®: Certified Continence Care Nurse
- CWON™: Certified Wound Ostomy Nurse
It is important to note that some employers will hire you without a certification with the promise you will complete a certification program within so many months of being hired.
Wound Care Nurse Salary
According to BLS.gov, the salary of a wound care nurse is 69,790/year and $33.55/hour and this varies depending on your certification, years of experience, and geographically location.
Likes
- Watching a patient with a serious wound heal and knowing you played a role in helping this patient get better
- Nice working hours and not as demanding and stressful as bedside nursing
- Depending on where you work you get more patient interaction time
Dislikes:
- Frustrating when you have non-compliant patients who typically keep coming back over and over
- Always changing (supplies and techniques) so you have to keep up-to-date constantly
- Competitive field