WEB WOC^® NURSING EDUCATION PROGRAM is a collaboration of professional nurses, who are Board Certified as Wound, Ostomy and Continence (WOC) Care Nurse Specialists and dedicated to supporting and building the profession of WOC Nursing.  It’s mission is compatible with that of the WOCN^® Society: to promote and support the education of bachelors’ prepared nurses to become WOC Nurse Specialists in order to guide the delivery of expert evidence-based health care to individuals with a wound, ostomy or continence issue.

The philosophy of the WEB WOC NURSING EDUCATION PROGRAM is encompassed in the following beliefs.   We believe that the comprehensive role of nursing includes services to a multifaceted population and emphasizes prevention, health maintenance, therapeutic intervention and rehabilitation. Within the framework of the WOC Nursing specialty practice, the nurse strives to advance the level of health care available while increasing quality of life for individuals with a wound, ostomy or incontinence care issue. In order to provide the academic foundations and credentialing necessary to support growth of the profession, we believe that potential WOC Nurses should have the option to be educated with an approach that is accessible and cost-effective. Use of ONLINE, faculty taught courses to advance the profession is demonstrated in this Program.

We also fully support the team management approach adopted by this Program to utilize knowledge and skills of each to provide continuity, uniformity and depth, which strengthen the Program’s development and administration.  We support the philosophy that a team leadership is greater than its parts and, subsequently, able to provide a consistent educational product for its customer that is not dependent upon one person for its survival and currency of content. We believe that just as collaboration in the health care setting is critical to efficiently maximizing patient outcomes, a collaborative approach to the education of WOC Nurses maximizes the learner’s opportunity to reach their personal and professional goals.

Third, we support the concept of a professional community so that the practicing WOC Nurse can experience a successful and satisfying career.  Working with WOC Nursing in their communities, regions and nationally is supported. As a distance education community, we respect and build upon adult learners’ wealth of knowledge and experience while presenting a rigorous academic curriculum in the specialty of Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nursing.

Finally, ONLINE distance education has provided an avenue for access that has not been previously realized in the specialty of WOC Nursing. We believe for the specialty to further develop with the inevitable continued health care constraints, as well as for the survival of education programs, the WEB WOC NURSING EDUCATION PROGRAM  must be delivered in a manner that is accessible to the adult learner at a distance.  Therefore, we also promote global accessibility. The adult learner is motivated and focused; they are unique in that while they may desire advanced level education, they often face geographic and economic limitations as well as non-negotiable commitments that constitute barriers to fulfilling their dream of career advancement. We believe that the health care industry, our profession as WOC nurses and our patients are the losers when we fail to accommodate these adult learner needs. In addition, we believe the environment of advanced education for the adult learner cannot occur in a vacuum. We believe that active faculty involvement in live virtual classes, discussions, debates and deadlines are critical to the synthesis and integration of new knowledge and the pursuit of evidence-based health care.