Wound Care Conferences 2026: The Complete Calendar for Practitioners
Every wound care conference in 2026-2027 — SAWC, WOCN, APWCA, WHS, and regional events with dates, locations, CE credits, registration links, and what each conference is best for.
Damon Ebanks
Medipyxis
Wound Care Conferences 2026-2027: The Full Calendar
Wound care practitioners have more conference options than most people realize. The challenge is not finding a conference — it is choosing the right one for your role, your CE requirements, and where your practice needs to grow this year.
This calendar covers every major wound care conference through early 2027, with the details that actually matter for deciding where to spend your time and budget: dates, locations, CE availability, who each event is built for, and where to register. Bookmark this page and come back when planning season starts.
National Conferences
SAWC Fall 2026 — Symposium on Advanced Wound Care
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | October 15-18, 2026 |
| Location | Caesars Forum Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV |
| CE Credits | Yes — nursing, physician, PT, PA credits through WHS-accredited providers |
| Best For | Mobile wound care teams, practice owners, clinical directors, billers |
| Registration | HMP Global — early-bird pricing typically through mid-August |
SAWC Fall 2026 is the standout event this year. The big news is the first-ever Mobile Wound Care Track, which dedicates sessions to field documentation, mobile operations and logistics, referral network development, billing compliance for mobile visits, and technology evaluations built around field usability rather than clinic-based workflows. If you run or work in a mobile wound care practice, this track alone justifies the trip. We wrote a full breakdown in our SAWC Fall 2026 preview.
The exhibit hall is also one of the strongest in wound care — EHR platforms, skin substitutes, NPWT systems, wound imaging tools, and billing services all under one roof.
SAWC Spring 2027
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | Expected April/May 2027 (dates typically announced Q4 2026) |
| Location | TBD — historically rotates among major convention cities |
| CE Credits | Yes — comparable to SAWC Fall |
| Best For | Clinicians focused on advanced wound management research and clinical updates |
| Registration | HMP Global — opens after SAWC Fall concludes |
SAWC Spring is the research-heavy counterpart to the fall event. Expect deeper clinical content on advanced therapeutics, skin substitutes, negative pressure wound therapy, and emerging treatment modalities. The spring conference draws a heavier physician and researcher audience. Dates and location will be announced later in 2026 — watch the HMP Global site.
WOCN Society Annual Conference 2026
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | June 2026 (completed) — 2027 dates expected to be announced fall 2026 |
| Location | 2026 held in Nashville, TN — 2027 location TBD |
| CE Credits | Yes — extensive nursing CE, including wound, ostomy, and continence specialties |
| Best For | WOC nurses, certified wound care nurses, nurses pursuing CWOCN/CWON/CWCN certification |
| Registration | WOCN Society |
WOCN is the professional home for wound, ostomy, and continence nurses. The annual conference is nursing-centric in a way that no other wound care event matches — clinical sessions, certification prep, scope-of-practice discussions, and networking with the largest concentration of certified wound care nurses in the country. If you hold or are pursuing a WOC nursing certification, this is your primary conference.
The 2026 event has passed, but start watching for 2027 dates. WOCN conferences tend to announce roughly 9-12 months out.
APWCA Annual Conference 2026 — Association for the Advancement of Wound Care
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | Expected October 2026 (typically runs same month as or near SAWC Fall) |
| Location | TBD — check AAWC/APWCA website for updates |
| CE Credits | Yes — nursing and physician CE |
| Best For | Clinicians interested in evidence-based wound care, clinical guidelines, and research translation |
| Registration | AAWC |
APWCA (now organizationally aligned with AAWC — the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care) focuses on translating wound care research into clinical practice. The programming emphasizes clinical guideline development, evidence-based treatment selection, and outcomes measurement. It is smaller than SAWC but attracts a focused audience of clinicians who care deeply about clinical rigor. If you want to go beyond "what's new" to "what actually works and why," this is the conference.
Wound Healing Society Annual Meeting 2026
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | Expected spring 2027 (WHS typically co-locates with SAWC Spring) |
| Location | TBD — typically co-located with SAWC Spring |
| CE Credits | Yes — CME for physicians, CE for nurses |
| Best For | Researchers, physician scientists, academic wound care clinicians |
| Registration | Wound Healing Society |
WHS is the most research-oriented wound care organization in the U.S. Their annual meeting frequently co-locates with SAWC Spring, which means you can attend both under a single trip. The content skews toward basic science, translational research, and clinical trials. If you are publishing, running studies, or want to understand the evidence behind emerging treatments before they hit the exhibit hall floor, WHS is where that conversation happens.
AAWC — Association for the Advancement of Wound Care
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | Runs educational events throughout 2026-2027; annual conference timing varies |
| Location | Varies — check website |
| CE Credits | Yes — nursing and physician CE |
| Best For | Clinicians seeking guideline-based education and advocacy engagement |
| Registration | AAWC |
AAWC runs both standalone educational events and co-sponsored programming with other wound care organizations. They are heavily involved in clinical guideline development and wound care policy advocacy. Membership provides access to webinars, guideline resources, and discounted event registration throughout the year.
Wild on Wounds (WOW)
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Dates | Status uncertain for 2026-2027 |
| Location | Historically Las Vegas |
| CE Credits | Yes (when held) — nursing CE with a strong clinical education focus |
| Best For | Wound care nurses seeking CE-dense, clinically focused education |
| Registration | Check Wild on Wounds for current status |
Wild on Wounds has historically been a popular CE-focused conference for wound care nurses, known for its approachable clinical education format and strong nursing community. However, the conference schedule has been inconsistent in recent years. Check the WOW website for current status before planning around it. If WOW does not run in your planning window, SAWC Fall or the WOCN conference offer comparable CE density.
Regional and Specialty Events
Beyond the national conferences, several regional and specialty events are worth tracking:
State wound care society meetings. Many states have wound care societies (e.g., California, Texas, Florida) that run annual or semi-annual meetings with CE credits. These are smaller, less expensive, and closer to home — useful when travel budget is tight but CE hours are needed.
Hospital system wound care symposia. Large health systems like HCA, Ascension, and CommonSpirit frequently run internal wound care education events that are open to external clinicians. Check with your local hospital wound care center for upcoming symposia.
Manufacturer-sponsored clinical education. Companies like Solventum (formerly 3M Health Care), MiMedx, Organogenesis, and Smith+Nephew run product-specific clinical workshops that include CE credits. These are narrower in scope but free or low-cost, and the hands-on training can be directly applicable.
Podiatry and diabetic care crossover events. The American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) annual conference and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions both include wound care content relevant to practitioners treating DFUs. If diabetic foot ulcers are a significant part of your practice, these crossover events provide context you will not get at a wound-care-only conference.
How to Justify Conference Attendance to Your Employer
If you need organizational approval, build your case around three concrete categories:
CE credit economics. Calculate the cost per CE hour at the conference versus standalone online courses. Conference CE is almost always cheaper per hour, and the learning quality — live interaction, clinical demonstrations, peer discussion — is materially higher. Most wound care conferences offer 15-25+ CE hours across three to four days.
Specific operational problems. Identify two or three sessions that directly address challenges your practice faces right now. Documentation bottlenecks, billing denial patterns, referral pipeline gaps, technology limitations — frame your attendance as targeted research toward solving those problems, not general "professional development."
Vendor evaluation time savings. If your practice is evaluating new technology — EHR, wound imaging, billing software — the exhibit hall compresses months of discovery into two days. Estimate the hours you would spend scheduling and sitting through individual vendor demos, and compare that to walking the exhibit floor.
Write a one-page justification memo covering what you will learn, what it costs, what it saves, and your commitment to share takeaways with the team after you return. Most conference registration sites include a downloadable justification letter template.
Maximizing CE Credits at Any Conference
CE credits are a primary reason many practitioners attend conferences. A few strategies to get the most from them:
Pre-plan your session schedule before you arrive. Most conferences publish their session catalog 4-8 weeks out. Map which sessions carry CE credit, which disciplines they apply to, and whether any sessions require pre-registration. Walking in without a plan means you will default to whatever is convenient, not whatever earns you the most relevant credits.
Attend pre-conference workshops. Many conferences offer half-day or full-day pre-conference workshops that carry additional CE credit beyond the main sessions. These often require separate registration and fill early. They are frequently the highest-value CE hours of the trip — smaller groups, hands-on content, deeper dives.
Track your credits in real time. Bring your CE tracking app or a simple spreadsheet. Conferences move fast, and reconstructing which sessions you attended from memory two weeks later is a reliable way to lose credits you earned. Scan QR codes, collect session certificates, and log hours daily.
Check post-conference online access. Some conferences offer recorded sessions with CE credit available after the event. If you had to choose between two overlapping sessions, you may be able to earn credit for the one you missed by watching the recording.
Conference Networking Strategy
The sessions are valuable. The relationships are more valuable. A few approaches that consistently work:
Introduce yourself with your operating model, not just your title. "I run a mobile wound care practice covering 14 SNFs across metro Houston" opens more useful conversations than "I'm a wound care NP." Referral partners, potential hires, and compatible vendors all self-identify when they know how you operate.
Attend roundtables and small-group sessions. Large keynotes are efficient for CE credits. Roundtables are efficient for relationships. The practitioners sitting around a table discussing LCD compliance challenges or mobile documentation workflows are dealing with the same problems you are. Prioritize these when offered.
Visit the poster presentations with purpose. Poster sessions are the easiest thing to skip and among the most undervalued. Walk the posters looking for research relevant to your specific practice — studies on wound care in home settings, mobile documentation outcomes, or treatment modalities you use. The researchers presenting are often happy to talk in depth and share unpublished follow-up data.
Follow up within 48 hours. A business card in your pocket is a decaying asset. Send a short email or LinkedIn message within two days of meeting someone — reference the specific conversation you had. The hit rate on turning a conference introduction into a lasting professional connection drops sharply after 72 hours.
Planning Your 2026-2027 Conference Calendar
If you can attend one wound care conference this year, SAWC Fall 2026 is the strongest option for most practitioners — especially anyone in mobile or home-visit wound care. The new Mobile Wound Care Track makes it uniquely relevant, the exhibit hall is broad, and Las Vegas in October is logistically easy.
If you are a WOC nurse or pursuing certification, add the WOCN 2027 conference to your calendar as soon as dates are announced.
If you are research-oriented, plan for WHS/SAWC Spring 2027 as a combined trip.
And if national travel is not in the budget this year, start with your state wound care society and manufacturer-sponsored workshops. CE credits earned locally still count toward your renewal, and a regional event can be the stepping stone to justifying a national conference next year.