Which Procedures Does a Wound Care Physician Perform?
When considering a specialty change, physicians are often curious about the type of procedures that they will perform on a regular basis. In the practice of wound care, procedures such as biopsies, debridement, and cauterization are an important component of everyday treatment. Regardless of their backgrounds, physicians who are interested in transitioning to this specialty must be procedurally-oriented and patient-focused.
Physicians transition to wound care from a variety of specialties, most commonly general surgery, vascular surgery, plastic surgery, family medicine, and internal medicine. As a result, wound care physicians enter the field with varying levels of expertise and exposure to hands-on wound care.
Surgeons, for example, generally experience a seamless transition due to their familiarity with common wound procedures, whereas family medicine or internal medicine physicians will have performed such procedures, though at a lesser frequency. Wound care provides an outlet for physicians to narrow their procedural focus while maintaining and/or increasing the volume of procedures performed regularly.
Typical Procedures
Although every wound and every patient are different, there are several procedures that you will regularly perform as a wound care physician. The most typical procedures performed by Vohra Wound Physicians are biopsies, cauterizations, and excisional debridements.
Biopsy
In wound care, biopsies are commonly used to guide treatment of chronic wounds and can diagnose malignancy and other abnormalities in these wounds. Biopsies of suspicious skin lesions may also be performed to confirm a diagnosis or guide therapy.Debridement
Debridement, the surgical removal of necrotic tissues from the wound and destroyed biofilm, is a typical procedure in wound care and critical to modern wound healing. Depending on the nature of the wound, debridement may be performed using several different techniques, including surgical, mechanical, chemical, enzymatic, autolytic, or biological.
Cauterization
Cauterization is the burning of skin using a heated instrument or caustic chemical agent. This technique is commonly used to stop bleeding. In wound care, cauterization is typically performed to help a wound re-epithelize when it there is hypergranulation or the wound has developed epibole that is preventing healing.
Regardless of your background, to be a successful wound physician you should be procedurally-adept and motivated to perform surgical procedures at bedside on a daily basis. Vohra provides ample training and support to all physicians transitioning to wound care with robust onboarding and enrollment in the nation’s largest wound care fellowship.
Vohra’s Approach to Wounds
Although most wound care physicians perform similar procedures each day, they typically do them in hospitals or designated wound care clinics: Vohra physicians perform procedures at the patient’s bedside. Vohra Wound Physicians pioneered bedside wound care, a practice that improves patient outcomes and reduces the risk of transport-related injuries and infections. This enables Vohra physicians to provide continuity of care and to maintain and monitor their treatment plans.
With specialized training and advanced wound care expertise, Vohra physicians are able to heal difficult wounds and deliver superior patient outcomes.
“Vohra’s ability to perform surgical debridement at bedside is a major benefit in that we do not need to send the resident out to a wound clinic for that type of procedure. This results in convenience, reduced cost to the government, and better continuity of care for the patient”
- Christopher Masterson, RN, LNHA, WCC, Vohra Chief Nursing Officer.
Procedural Training
Upon joining the practice, all new Vohra Wound Physicians participate in the Vohra Fellowship Program. As part of this program, physicians receive wound care training and conduct rounds with senior Vohra physicians. New physicians are able to observe, perform common procedures and familiarize themselves with bedside wound care. This facilitates a seamless transition and allows new wound physicians to hone their skills.
Vohra also hosts regular peer knowledge-sharing sessions, wherein physicians share patient experiences, learnings and key wound care developments. This facilitates an interdisciplinary approach to wound care and helps new wound physicians understand procedural best practices.
Vohra physicians begin building their practices immediately. In a typical day, Vohra wound physicians see approximately 25-30 patients and many of these patients require procedures.
Transition to Wound Care Today
Wound care is a highly evolving subspecialty with significant patient need and a high demand for physicians. Transitioning to wound care enables physicians to improve their work-life balance and professional autonomy while still doing hands-on patient care. This can help physicians avoid burnout, reduce their stress levels, and restore their passion for patient-focused medicine.
If you are considering wound care, learn more about why physicians are transitioning to Vohra and the typical day of a Vohra wound physician.
“My clinical satisfaction working with Vohra is top notch. I don't think it could get much better, especially from a surgery background. You still get hands-on procedural experience and the immediate satisfaction that most of us even went into surgery for, and you get that in addition to the work-life balance that we all desire, but never get in general surgery”
- Dr Elton Taylor, DO, General Surgeon who transitioned to Vohra.
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