STARTING A CAREER IN WOUND CARE
What does it take to get started and become
successful as a wound care physician?
Taking the leap to Wound Care as a physician:
Leaving a residency™ program or medical specialty to become a wound care physician can be an overwhelming decision for physicians. An average doctor works 59.6 hours a week inside of a hospital; wound care physicians, however, typically work set, regular hours without nights or weekends and are never on call. What is the best way to explore wound care as the right career for you? Currently there is not a formalized ACGME approved program for wound care. Training in wound care starts with exposure to the field by shadowing wound care physicians and seeing the day-to-day workload. There is also an abundance of educational resources available on the topic of wound care both online and via textbook. As you become more knowledgeable in the area, you will begin to see the large need for wound care experts.
A typical wound care physician sees a wide variety of wounds throughout the day. The majority of wounds are chronic and managing them is not an emergency. On average, physicians in our practice see anywhere from 20-40 patients a day. Some visits may be brief if they are smaller healing wounds, whereas patients with multiple, larger wounds may take longer to see. Most visits are conducted during the weekday, and there are no weekend and on-call requirements.
Some of the reasons individuals decide on a career path in wound care are:
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Wound care physicians typically work set, regular hours without nights, holidays, or weekends and are never on call.
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They have a wonderful work-life balance with ample free time to spend with loved ones and also have high professional satisfaction levels.
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Ability to perform procedures quickly and efficiently.
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Helping an underserved population.
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Rewards from watching wounds heal.
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The intellectual challenge of wound healing.
Becoming a wound care physician allows for better work life balance.
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The first year working in wound care has a high learning curve. You learn as you care for patients, but you should also be reading to better hone your clinical skills. You do not need to be certified in wound care to take care of patients with chronic wounds, but you do need to hold a medical license in the state you want to practice in.
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Pursue your passion for wound care by starting to read about the wound care field specifically as soon as your interest begins.
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Talk to individuals currently in the field to gain a better understanding of what the career entails.
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Shadow other wound care physicians.
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As you start your career in wound care, you may start by seeing a lower volume of patients to have ample time to complete a thorough examination and perform procedures. Over time, you will become more adept at procedures and patient encounters, and you will begin to see more patients.
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Attend continuing education events that will help you answer questions about the field. SWC holds two wound care symposiums a year for physician education.
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At Skilled Wound Care, we also offer a Advanced Wound Care Fellowship; SWOCS (Skin, Wound, & Ostomy Certified Specialist) Program provided by the College of Long Term Care in association with Skilled Wound Care Surgical Group is an intense 12 -24 month training program that will focus on training clinicians (MDs, ODs, PAs, NPs) on the full spectrum of advanced wound care. To see more about this option, click here.
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Know the practice you are joining. Do research to make sure the physician practice is a reputable group that has your best interests at heart. A good practice will invest in your education, training and learning in order to ensure your success.
About Skilled Wound Care:
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For over 15 years SWC has been treating patients with chronic ulcers.
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We currently service 25 states, 340 US Cities, in 483 Zip Codes
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We have over 100 successful wound care physicians working throughout the country.
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We reduce morbidity, mortality, and cost, through our direct patient care program.
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We have robust training programs for new physicians, as well as a fellowship path.
Physicians seeking a career in wound care often come from an array of specialty areas, such as family medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, vascular surgery, and plastic surgery – to name a few. For this reason, physicians entering the wound care field possess diverse levels of experience.
For instance, surgeons commonly have familiarity with routine wound procedures and thus undergo a relatively seamless transition into the field. Similarly, internal medicine and family medicine physicians perform these common wound care procedures but at a much lesser frequency. The field of wound care offers a valuable landscape for physicians to hone their procedural focus while gaining increased exposure to these common procedures.