Wound Care Nursing

Caitlyn Howe and Alexis McLewis

 ❖ A certified wound care nurse is a
What is a wound nurse that is certified in cleaning
care nurse? and caring for wounds.
❖ There are four different

certifications types for wound care

nurses
➢ treating wounds (CWCN)
➢ continence care (CCCN)
➢ ostomies (COCN)
➢ Certified Wound Ostomy and
Continence Nurse (CWOCN)
Education Step 1: Earn Your BSN

Requirements Step 2: Attend a Board Approved

Certification Program Or Obtain
Certification Via Experience

In a board approved program the curriculum will

typically include 2 semesters (about 15 credit hours)
worth of courses, with a separate clinical component.
Clinical hours may range from 140-180 hours. This
typically takes 2-3 months to complete. To obtain by
experience, you would need 50 related CEs and 1500
hours of clinical exposure for each branch of
certification desired, over the last 5 years.

Step 4: Pass the Exam

Specific
● Order wound treatments, tests, and therapies
● Debrides wounds

Responsibilities ●
●
Help to direct home care along with a physician
Apply bioengineered skin products
Advantages/ Disadvantages
Advantages of wound care

● Being able to watch a patient with a serious wound heal and knowing that you
played a big role in helping them heal.
● Having good work hours and is a low stress job
● You get better one on one time with patients and have a better nurse patient
relationship

Disadvantages of wound care

● Having patients that don’t take care of their wounds at home and cause infection or
healing issues.
● When patients are not consistent and want to change their treatment plan all the
time which can be hard to keep up with.
Other Schedule
The schedule of a wound care nurse depends on the type of
facility they work at. For example, if someone works in a
clinic they would have a 8am-5pm shift 5 days a week,
whereas if they were to work in a hospital, their schedule
would be closer to 3 12-hour shifts per week.

Career opportunities
There is an expected increase in the need for wound care
nurses. As the elderly population increases, hospitals are
looking to hire those who have wound care expertise.

Salary
The average salary of a wound care nurse is around $69,790
per year, however, it varies depending on years of experience,
certification, and geographical location.
Organization
An organization for wound care nurses is the WOCN,
which stands for Wound, Ostomy, and Continence
Nurses Society.

The WOCN was founded in 1968, and is the oldest

wound care society. Its board certification is
considered the “gold standard” among wound care
nurses.
Organization
Any RN with the proper educational training can be
part of the WOCN

The yearly fee is $135 for members and $65 for

students.

The mission and promotion of the WOCN to is to

promote educational,clinical and research
opportunities to advance in wound care practice and
to help provide better care to patient.
Fact that you
With any wound the best thing is to clean it thoroughly
and cover it as fast as possible to decrease the risk of

should know! infection.

 References
Corbett, L. Q. (2012, October). Wound care nursing: Professional issues and opportunities. Advances in wound care. Retrieved November

Corbett, L. Q. (2012, October). Wound care nursing: Professional issues and opportunities. Advances in wound care.

Retrieved November 28, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3839022/.

How to become a wound care nurse: Salary, educational requirements, job overview. Registered Nurse RN. (2018,

November 26). Retrieved November 28, 2021, from

https://www.registerednursern.com/how-to-become-a-wound-care-nurse-salary-education.

Nurse.org Staff. (n.d.). Certified wound care nursing career guide. Nurse.org. Retrieved November 28, 2021, from

https://nurse.org/resources/wound-care-career-guide/.

Wound, ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society™: Wocn Society. WOCN. (2021, October 15). Retrieved November 28,

2021, from https://www.wocn.org/.