How to become a wound care nurse

[Solnce1981]

Hello fellow nurses,

I have just graduated with my MSN in nursing(RN). I want to become an NP at some point of the nearest future. But most importantly, I am interested in wound care nursing- either RN or NP path.

Please, would you guide me what is the smartest choice to get additional education and licensure for wound care? Also, would it be tangible to avoid medsurg for any time since I do not see myself in a hectic environment of medsurg nursing?

Thanks!

[CalicoKitty, BSN, MSN, RN]

What nursing experience do you have outside of school? Wound care can be a great specialty, but most wound care nurses have nursing experience dealing with wounds for a while before beginning to focus on it. Med-surg is a great place to get wound care experience. Many patients will have multiple comorbidities that make them more likely to have wounds. You will have the opportunity to see what the wound care nurses at your workplace do to treat wounds. I'm not sure what other nursing you'd start off with that would help you with wounds that would be less hectic than med-surg. In the ICU, many patients actually develop pressure ulcers, partly because they are too ill to be repositioned properly. Nursing homes, rehabs, and other locations have many patients with wounds, but the patient loads can be pretty intense. The ER will have plenty of wounds, but the focus would be getting the patient admitted or stable to leave.

For education, there are several options. I would advise getting Wound, Ostomy and Continence certification, as many places would want all 3 so you can be a CWOCN. The WOCN lists several schools that can give you the education needed for the ability to test for the CWOCN exam. You will also need about 150 or so clinical hours - and often you will be expected to find your own clinical preceptor(s). There are a few online schools, and some schools that have requirements to attend at least some part of the program at their location.

There is another certification, CWS, but that test and program requires something like 3 years of wound care experience to sit for the exam and become certified.

[Solnce1981]

Polar bear, thank you very much for your reply! It is much appreciated!!!

[Solnce1981]

Polar bear, thank you very much for your reply! It is much appreciated!!!

[SaltineQueen]

I saw a ton of wounds in Med-Surg...different types, degrees, treatment methods. Our wound care nurse was amazing and loved to teach. I considered that path for a while. I think you'll get plenty of exposure there, but you would most other inpatient areas as well.