Confused about WOCN

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I have been trying to do some online research and found myself more confused than before. I have an MSN and want to get certified in wound, ostomy and continence. I see an online course, but not sure if it is approved. Where do I start? Decide where I want to get credentials then see what the criteria is? How do I decide what credentialing agency? I am beginning to think that I have to move out of state, enroll in who knows what for one year, find someone to precept me, then hope I pass an exam. The closest program that I could find is in Cleveland, that is hundreds of miles away.

That means selling my house, giving away the dog and moving out of state. No wonder there aren't very many nurses who do this.

What is your take on it? I don't mind spending a few thousand and working hard but I think this is a bit much for a certification that may not even pan out to getting a job.

I don't know. I am thinking it is out of reach.

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Specializes in Army Nurse, CEN.

I did my didactic classes through Cleveland Clinic's online option. I believe they have a hybrid for those who live close. Each class is about 2ish months long (I think). All the professors were great and many of them actually wrote chapters for the textbooks!! After all three classes, or whichever ones you wish to be certified in (some people only do wound or wound&ostomy), you do 40hrs of clinical for each one. The hardest part is finding your own preceptors but WOCN website has a list of nurses who are willing to precept people. The "gold standard" certifying board is the WOCNCB. Their website is pretty helpful if you haven't checked it out yet. It lays out all the requirements to sit for the exam.

I also have heard of people going through WebWOC but I don't know anything about this program so I can't speak to it.

It is definitely not out of reach!! It might take some time but you can totally achieve this goal! Happy to answer anymore questions in greater detail if you need!

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12 hours ago, michksmith14 said:

I did my didactic classes through Cleveland Clinic's online option. I believe they have a hybrid for those who live close. Each class is about 2ish months long (I think). All the professors were great and many of them actually wrote chapters for the textbooks!! After all three classes, or whichever ones you wish to be certified in (some people only do wound or wound&ostomy), you do 40hrs of clinical for each one. The hardest part is finding your own preceptors but WOCN website has a list of nurses who are willing to precept people. The "gold standard" certifying board is the WOCNCB. Their website is pretty helpful if you haven't checked it out yet. It lays out all the requirements to sit for the exam.

I also have heard of people going through WebWOC but I don't know anything about this program so I can't speak to it.

It is definitely not out of reach!! It might take some time but you can totally achieve this goal! Happy to answer anymore questions in greater detail if you need!

Thanks for responding, I appreciate the information and will dig into it more.

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Specializes in Army Nurse, CEN.
1 hour ago, Forest2 said:

Thanks for responding, I appreciate the information and will dig into it more.

No problem! Good luck!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

Both WebWOC and Cleveland Clinic have online courses, Cleveland Clinic, I think requires s a week or two course there. I think to be eligible for the CWOCN certification, you need 50 or so hours of clinical practice with a preceptor in each specialty: wound/ostomy/continence. And, as mentioned, finding preceptors can be a challenge.

If you are a nurse practitioner, you can get an advanced CWOCN-AP certification, but you'll need the NP preceptors. I believe the exam is also different.

https://www.wocn.org/general/custom.asp?page=accredited_programs

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Specializes in Army Nurse, CEN.
5 hours ago, CalicoKitty said:

Cleveland Clinic, I think requires s a week or two course there.

Yes, this is an option if you don't want to find all of your own preceptors. You can opt to travel to CC for a couple weeks to get your clinical hours in, which was 40 hours each when I went through. Otherwise, you can work to find preceptors locally where you live.

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Thanks everybody!

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Specializes in Nephrology Home Therapies, Wound Care, Foot Care..

I recently completed the Cleveland Clinic WOC program. All the didactic is online- takes about 5 months. Then you can find your own preceptor to do clinicals, but HIGHLY recommend doing the 3 week clinicals at the CLeveland CLinic- you will see stuff that you will never see elsewhere - seriously! It;s only 3 weeks, then you have some more homework, 3 finals online (proctored) and then you have your WOC. Then you have up to 5 years to take the exams for the WOCN Society to be awarded your CWOCN. Happy to answer any questions, I was in your shoes this time last year.

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10 hours ago, AngelKissed857 said:

I recently completed the Cleveland Clinic WOC program. All the didactic is online- takes about 5 months. Then you can find your own preceptor to do clinicals, but HIGHLY recommend doing the 3 week clinicals at the CLeveland CLinic- you will see stuff that you will never see elsewhere - seriously! It;s only 3 weeks, then you have some more homework, 3 finals online (proctored) and then you have your WOC. Then you have up to 5 years to take the exams for the WOCN Society to be awarded your CWOCN. Happy to answer any questions, I was in your shoes this time last year.

Thank you so much for this information. I am able to get it sorted in my mind now. If you don't mind me asking, How much money did this cost? Not including hotel expenses, travel and food.

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Specializes in Nephrology Home Therapies, Wound Care, Foot Care..

The program and books were right about $6k. Food housing (air bnb) car and airfare we're about $3000 I think.

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Specializes in Army Nurse, CEN.

I would also recommend going to CC for your clinical if you can swing it. I had such a difficult time finding preceptors in my area to get my clinical hours in!

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Oh my, that's a lot of money, I need 10K and 6 months. Well, I guess there won't be any wound care jobs in my future. I'll have to figure something else out that I can do.

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