We get a lots of folks coming in from home or having been cared for by exausted elderly spouses who have some pretty ugly wounds. I love every aspect of the treatment process, Cleaning, measuring, packing etc. The nastier it is the better I am at it. I will face wounds that make even seasoned nurses pale and sick. A little vicks in a mask and I am good to go. I think I may have found my specialty. Will be talikg to my DON about getting certified as our wound care coordinator just gave notice.......
The bit I like is how it's like a puzzle. There are lots of little pieces that fit together to determine how a wound will progress. Is there pressure? Can we offload it? How's the patient's nutrition? Fluid intake? Pain? Should we compress? What products should we use? Do we need an antimicrobial? Can we be creative with this product? Can we make this other product more like that one? What kind of care plan can we cobble together that will meet this client's needs? It's especially interesting in the community, where clients largely won't do what you tell them to do and you have to get EXTRA creative. But it's incredibly satisfying to heal a wound that, months ago, looked totally gnarly.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
When I did Home Health visits on the weekends, those wound care visits were the one's I liked best. And I was vain enough to love it when the patients always told me that the dsgs I did were the most comfortable and they wished I could do theirs all the time.
Not nuts at all! I get gleeful when I get a good wound to check out. Can't wait to see some in my clinical rotations.
I had one patient who had a fasciotomy on her calf while I was taking A&P. I could see the entire muscle when I was helping the nurse change her dressing. It took all I had not to say "This is SO COOL"
First time I saw an intestine sticking out of a stoma I almost clapped.
Not nuts at all! I get gleeful when I get a good wound to check out. Can't wait to see some in my clinical rotations.
I had one patient who had a fasciotomy on her calf while I was taking A&P. I could see the entire muscle when I was helping the nurse change her dressing. It took all I had not to say "This is SO COOL"
First time I saw an intestine sticking out of a stoma I almost clapped.
I do home health, and have a lady we see for colostomy pouch changes twice a week (she has other problems that prevent her from being able to do it herself). Her stoma is exceptionally prolapsed, at full length it's about six or seven inches off of her abdomen. She calls it the "baby whale." When I'm cleansing her skin I have to hold it up and out of the way, and you can see and feel the peristalsis. It's incredibly interesting.
Not only are you not nuts, you are on your way to a very interesting and potentially very well-paid career. Contact the WOCN folks and find out about how to get certified and start going to meetings. Look up the NPUAC and get on their mailing list.
Did you know that many wound care experts (which you will be!) have independent practices and contract with hospitals, LTCs, and SNFs to provide services? Did you know that a certified wound care nurse can give opinions and testify if needed, thus becoming a testifying expert ... and that's real money?
Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
My mom also loved wound care, and was darn good at it. I think it's great that you have found this niche, especially one that might not be that popular. You are not nuts, you have a special talent!
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
This is pretty disgusting, given what we know now about wound care.....but in the sixties it was not uncommon at a particular facility, for the bedsores to be the size of a dishplate! Now, they were clean, in that there was no redness, swelling or crud at the peripheries, but they were so large! So, the first time I saw, as a nsg student, a little red spot with an abraded open area, and heard a nurse report it as a bedsore, inside my brain I was thinking THAT'S not a bedsore!
Whats ironic is that when I got to dissect a cat I was completely horrified and bawled like a baby the whole time. I eventually found "clinical mode" and dissected the kidney which was fascinating, but I could have learned a lot more if I wasn't so upset.
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annabanana2
196 Posts
The bit I like is how it's like a puzzle. There are lots of little pieces that fit together to determine how a wound will progress. Is there pressure? Can we offload it? How's the patient's nutrition? Fluid intake? Pain? Should we compress? What products should we use? Do we need an antimicrobial? Can we be creative with this product? Can we make this other product more like that one? What kind of care plan can we cobble together that will meet this client's needs? It's especially interesting in the community, where clients largely won't do what you tell them to do and you have to get EXTRA creative. But it's incredibly satisfying to heal a wound that, months ago, looked totally gnarly.