wcc vs. wocn

Certification through WOCN educational endeavor is the Gold Standard. Period. But please consider: before doing ANY specialty course work, you first need to become an expert nursing generalist, which will require at least five years of med-surg staff nursing. Only then will you be prepared to BEGIN to become a board-certified specialist--in any nursing specialty. A wound is just one part of a whole person--whose individual characteristics will tell you how to proceed ONLY if you can correctly "read" the whole person.

Margo533, CWOCN since 1995

I think it also depends on where you want to work....The WOCN route is quite exclusive, and hard to obtain. I currently am a WCC, I LOVE working with wounds, love figuring out the "whole person", finding the etiology of a wound. There is new information to learn every day related to wounds, you certainly can't get bored! Do check into the WCC route, the instructors are fantastic, classes were interesting, and it was so nice to be grouped in a room with others who share a passion for wound care! There is a need for nurses who can do great wound care, and who can go back to their facility (be it LTC, Hospital etc) and TEACH. I have been amazed over the years at some of the things I have seen other nurses do "in the name of wound care". What a benefit to your patients to have nurses trained to do even basic wound care correctly! Go, learn and share!!! Good luck to you!!!

Emmjay, your professional background sounds excellent to proceed. Chrissy Lou, I know, I agree, the WOCN route is difficult, and I certainly agree, we need many more nurses knowledgable in wound care to care for our patients. Perhaps I'm too much of a "purist", wanting to add to the credentialed only those who can meet WOCN's (admittently) difficult standards; WOCN's standards are simply to have a baseline for assessment. Okay. I worked in home health (Indianapolis VNS and private home health agencies), hospital inpatient and hospital-based outpatient clinic over 15 yrs as a CWOCN; I have practiced in the entire scope of practice and am now retired (I'm 67yrs old). I urge you to proceed and learn in the educational setting you are able to progress in. If you have a BSN, by all means go the WOCN route; if you don't, then the most strenuous route will be the best. Believe me, one week will not make you an expert.

Margo533-
I agree, one week does not make you an expert. I think after even years, there is always that one wound around the corner waiting to stump you or amaze you. I have been sailing through every message board I can find, picking up bits and pieces of information to add to my own information. I love that people are finally discussing, and sharing information, tips etc with their wound care. I had been on my own for a long time, reading every book, article, or newsletter I could find- when I lucked out to find myself working with the Doctor who essentially built the wound clinic in our neighboring city! That was a huge bonus! I did go with the WCC certification, and was quite happy with what I was taught. It is a good program, and very supportive. I believe you must be a wealth of knowledge, one I bet I would love to tap into! While I may never be able to obtain the WOCN certification, I will continue to read, read, read, and absorb every bit of info I can. It can be a tough field, frustrating at times, especially with the skeptics. But I am hoping I can continue to make a difference for someone, somewhere!

Good for you, chrissylou! I'm more than happy for anyone to bounce ideas & questions off me. My one great message is that a wound is just a part of a whole person; all that person's physical characteristics, personal cognition, and his/her social support network form the background for treating a wound.

That message is so true! I get frustrated when I have corporate consultants come in and simply say "Well, 2 weeks are up, why isn't that wound healed?" They don't care about the whole picture, that their labs are in the toilet and they are not eating, or that they refuse to keep the wraps on, elevate their legs. I will certainly be bouncing things off you, I would be thrilled to add you to my "arsenal".