Advanced Certification in Wound Care?

[Cideous]

Hey guys, need a little help.

I am interested in making a move from UC into Wound Care.  I am looking for a *credible* advanced wound care certification type course that will give me the leg up when applying for a wound care position.  Several of the jobs I have seen either recommend or require it.  I basically just googled wound care certification and got dozens of hits, but nothing that looked really credible.  So..

1.  Does anyone have experience in wound care who has went through a credible training course?  Hopefully not terribly expensive and counting towards CME cat 1's would be a bonus

2.  Any tips or recommendations would be appreciated.

3.  Is there a nationally recognized (legit) wound care organization that I should be looking to join?

 

 

I have taken care of lots of wounds, but only in a transactional UC setting, so I would like to become an expert so to speak at least didactically prior to applying seeing how everything is so competitive out there now.

 

Thanks!

Edited October 21, 2020 by Cideous

[Cideous]

Bump for any insight.   

[cc56]

I have nothing to add, I want to know also.  Lastly is there anyone who has done this?  Did you like the jump, is it a good area of medicine? 

[CPPAC]

I made the move from general surgery and urology to wound care earlier this year and absolutely love it. The hours are better with no call and you get to know the patient's as you improve their life through healing their wounds. There is a lot of frustration in it as with any specialty - DMII patient won't stay off his foot wounds or control blood sugar, pressure ulcer patient won't offload their backside, patient misses 2-3 weeks of appts in a row, etc. - but it's still very rewarding. 

This was an older post and I've found a coupld of credible certification bodies, but my problem now is that many require 2-3 years of wound care experience and/or do not include PAs as an approved licensed provider. I feel like this needs to be brought to the AAPA's attention so we can get PA added to that list so I will be doing that soon. Wound Care Institute and Wound Care Education Partners are two great resourses for certification courses. 

[Cideous]

I looked into this field pretty heavy and found most (if not all) companies were only hiring NP's.  It was very disappointing.  

[ventana]

On 10/2/2021 at 12:34 PM, Cideous said:

I looked into this field pretty heavy and found most (if not all) companies were only hiring NP's.  It was very disappointing.  

Direct pay might change this.   A lot easier to bill.   Will change Locums jobs for sure.  

[BirdDogPA]

Im in the same boat... wanting to diversify my practice from strictly emergency medicine to wound care. From what I see you have the ABWM and APWH who will both certify PAs plus a whole bunch of other "certification courses." Curios what PAs practicing in wound care have done or if y'all have received any additional certification?

[Cideous]

One other thing I found was that so called "wound care" companies are sketchy as heck.  I applied to two of them near me earlier in the year and after being offered a job I was stunned by how "fly-by-night" they were.  Not going to go into great detail, but I felt my license flapping in the wind just talking to them.  Btw, when you are thinking about going to work for someone like a wound care company, pull up a street view of their "corporate headquarters".  If it looks bad, it prob is.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Cideous

[PArockstar]

I am a new grad looking at an opportunity to get into wound care. What are your benefits/pros/cons? What do you like about it and has it been rewarding for you?

[PACali]

Following. 

I am also interested in diversifying my skills from only EM to some wound care. My EM company is expanding their practicing line to wound care. Anyone else would like to share their experience in wound care?  average pay? good work life balance?