Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

  I commend Clinical Editor Lia van Rijswijk for her editorial, "First, Do No Harm," that appeared in the March 2008 issue of Ostomy Wound Management.

While she focused on the doctor's (un)cleanliness, I focused on his "certification." It seems to me that wound care credentialing is rolling out of Cracker Jack boxes – you, too, can be wound-care certified, a WOC-in-a-box.

  An ad in the latest Advance for Nurses reads, "It only takes one week to become certified in wound care." When I mentioned this to a colleague, he sarcastically responded,"Oh, I thought it only took a weekend." How low will we go? How long will it take before we put on the brakes and realize the impossibility of instant certification? And most importantly, how many patients will receive substandard care from these poorly prepared "experts"? –Nancy Faller, RN, MSN, PhD, ET