Wound care nurse salary range

NC29mom, ASN, LPN, RN · Aug 23, 2009

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.

jwardffrench, LVN · Sep 28, 2009

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!!!

kthy · Sep 8, 2010

I will be getting certified in wound care this month. I am a RN and have been for 10 years with 5 years of wound care experience. I will be looking for a new job I have been with my company for 5 years and wound like to know what kind of salary I should expect. Thanks.

kjones1256, BSN · Sep 23, 2010

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.

margo533 · Nov 21, 2010

I retired two yrs ago, but had been a CWOCN since 1995. At my last position as a CWOCN at a community hospital in the Portland OR area, I was making $38+/hr. Keep in mind, wages/salaries are higher on both coasts than in the "heartland".

mmm333, LVN · Aug 11, 2011

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.

katiehydrangea · Aug 20, 2011

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!

Alwaystry · Aug 28, 2011

My instructor's niece is wound nurse in Northern California. He says she makes 140,000 a year. He says this is the higher end of the range. I don't know how long she's been doing this work. She has her BSN. Hope this helps.

groovy jeff, RN · Aug 29, 2011

I work prn for an ltac/snf combo in az and make $35/hr. Whoever said it was hard work was telling the truth.

49virginia49 · Jan 25, 2012

What is a day like for a wound nurse and why do you say it is hard work? I work in LTC and have thought about being a wound nurse. How difficult is it?

LDRNMOMMY, BSN, RN · Jan 25, 2012

I am a BSN with almost 6 yrs experience, with one of those being in wound care. I make low $20s/hr. I work in a wound care clinic 8-4:30 M-F, no shift diff. I live and work in the OKC metro area.