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Interesting question, I too would like to know. I have been a LPN for 3 yrs, really got into wound care over the past year, but have always done my own trmt's and such (didn't have trmt nurse). I will graduate with my ADN in May 2010, and I would also like to become certified. I absolutely love wound care.
I looked into the certification programs, and with some of them you have to have you BSN.
As a wound care nurse(lvn), here in texas, I make 45.5k a year, and that is without certification. As with the rest of ya'll, I absolutely love wound care, anddo not want to do anything else. I am a 2 yr nurse, who fell into this about 6 months ago. I work in ltc/rehab. I have been assured by my old don, in ca, that I could be making a lot more there! Oh, and that amount, is not with any ot. Can you imagine, if I can get the cert's!!!
I am interested in wound care as well. I am currently in my first semester of a 5 semester BSN program and I am about to start clinicals so I have not experienced wounds and wound care directly at all yet but I have always been very fascinated by things like this. My main question about it is the ostomy and continence part. What does this involve? I know what both terms are and what they generally involve but I am not sure about what the wound care nurse does specifically in reference to these things. Please let me know because I have looked EVERYWHERE and I can't find anything about this specific aspect of the job.
I am a Treatment Nurse in LTC and I can tell you that it is HARD, HARD work. You might make more, but you will be answerable for the entire building for all 3 shifts, even though you are only there for 1 shift 4-5 days per week. You be held to the responsibility of a manager of your program but be forced to punch in and out like a factory worker as if there were never ongoing or unresolved problems/paperwork (you will try to endorse work to next shift and they won't touch it, it will be left for you the following day). Treatment nurses need to be supported by "all hands" but the tendency is to slough off all treatment-related paperwork and patient care to that nurse- Most managers won't "get it" until something awful happens, then they blame the only nurse who was trying to deal with it all. Patients get admitted and nobody ever looked at their skin- guess what, the treatment nurse is now legally bound to that wound for the entire statute of limitations and if anyone ever sues, it will trace back to that nurse and their facility who "caused" the wound (even though it was actually present on admit but not documented). The job has its benefits- closer relationships with patients, the ability to see the healing that your art will allow you to achieve (nothing like the feeling of closing out a "complete heal"). But if you are in it for the money only there are better places to work with easier work. You've got to have good CNA skills as well to move around patients, contort to positions where you can work with wounds, move fast & hard all day, and work well with fine motor (taping intricate little inventions to places where tapes won't stick, getting in between places where the sun don't shine like toes, etc.). The job requires a lot of versatility and creativity, and in LTC there is the whole dementia/combative pt element to deal with as well. 80% of the litigation in LTC tends to be related to wounds and most Tx nurses expect to be sued at some point. Wound care also means getting away from core nursing skills, which one can forget. For some people, it's a good fit. For most, it's a very rough ride. Many people want to stay far away from wounds as a career, but some are drawn into the healing aspect and the intricacies of things that from the outside may seem simple, but are in fact very detailed and dynamic.
I am about to graduate with a BSN and this will be my second career, though, my first degree was in Health Science and worked in private offices for some time. I did get some experience at a podiatrists office where, I saw diabetic ulcerations, venous statis ulcerations and non-healing lover leg wounds/burns and since doing clinicals have realized that wound care might me a great place for me to be. I like to actually see with my own eyes the healing/progress that a wound makes. I like dressing wounds and I like measuring and evaluating. I would like to continue on in my education and at the same time work doing wound care. I am confused about what credentials you need.
One of the postings mentioned there is a great need in the area of wound care nursing. One post warned against fast track to big pay check, I'm not money hungry just started nursing late (40 something) and would like to do what I like and think I would be really good at!
Any advise on where to start either now (I have one semester to go and light load/few credits) or when I graduate with my BSN?
Thanks so much in advance!
nukefx007, RN
8 Posts
Hi,
I will be graduating next week for my associates degree in nursing...wohoo!!!!!
I had been a wound nurse for 6 years in a LTC facility as an LVN.
I love wound care so much that I wanted to specialized in wound care as an RN so I decided to apply in wcei wound care certification next month in Las Vegas (wish me luck...for my certificate..lol).
I searched online and found several companies/hospitals here in southern California looking for wound care rn's.
I would like to know what would be the starting or expected salary for a wound care nurse (rn) so I would have an idea if I do go for an interview, especially as a new grad. In addition, would they take my 6 year experience in wound into consideration when hiring and how much I get paid. Thanks
robert