My Scope of Practice: Saluting a US Navy Nurse Corps WOCN

  Linda graduated from Albright College in Reading, PA with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing in 1980 and was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy Nurse Corps. She served on active duty at Portsmouth Naval Hospital (Portsmouth, VA) and United States Naval Medical Reserve Units in Agana Heights, Guam; Charleston, SC; and Buffalo, NY. By the time her service had finished, Linda had been promoted to the mid-ranking officer title Lieutenant Commander and had worked in a number of different healthcare positions in medical-surgical units, pediatrics, public health, and academics.

  In 1993, while working at Maryview Medical Center (Portsmouth, VA), Linda completed her wound, ostomy, and continence certification training at the Albany Medical Center ET Nurse Education Program (ETNEP). This made her the first certified WOC nurse at Maryview Medical Center. For the past 12 years, Linda has worked as a wound, ostomy, and continence nurse at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, IL. Along with the other members of Memorial’s Ostomy and Wound Services team, which includes two CWOCNs, one certified wound care specialist, a nurse manager, and a WOC trainee, she provides consultations for pressure ulcer prevention and treatment, management of complex wounds, stoma marking, and education for pre- and postoperative ostomy care and services. (Linda is pictured with Elizabeth Taggart, RN, BS, CWOCN, during a stoma marking.) In addition, her team evaluates, and trials products and provides inservices related to wound, skin, or ostomy care. 

Linda may not have received her official certification as a WOC nurse until 1993, but she has been involved in wound, ostomy, and continence care since her career began. “My first nursing position was on a 32-bed open urology/vascular surgery ward for active duty and retired enlisted men,” Linda says. “Many of my patients had bladder cancer and underwent cystectomy with diverting ileal conduits. Lt. Gail Costigan, the ostomy nurse at Portsmouth Naval Hospital, mentored me in ostomy care. When it was time for her to transfer to a new duty station, she asked me to take over her duties as ostomy nurse.”

  Through the years, Linda has had several ostomy patients touch her heart, especially when she was just starting out. She remembers Bill, a Pearl Harbor and bladder cancer survivor who taught high school history. “He would quiz me on US history during his postoperative course,” she says. Bill is deceased, but Linda still remains in contact with his wife Dot. Mary, another one of Linda’s patients, was morbidly obese and suffering from Crohn’s Disease. She had a horribly placed and badly formed ileostomy stoma that her new navy surgeon promised to re-site if she lost 100 lb. She lost the weight and named her new stoma in honor of her surgeon. Linda also remembers Admiral “John,” the first Navy Admiral to return to active duty with a colostomy. “He brought every uniform, including his Mess Dress, with sword, for his preoperative teaching and stoma marking session,” she says.

  Linda currently is working on her Master of Science in Nursing Education at Benedictine University (Lisle, IL) and hopes to have a continued impact on patients through her research on quality of life for ostomates. She recently completed a research study on preoperative stoma marking and its impact on postoperative quality of life, which was presented nationally at the 2011 WOCN Society conference in New Orleans, LA. Linda has found the WOCN Society to be a great platform for nurses looking to make a difference, both locally and nationally. During her 2-year term as President of the Central Illinois Affiliate, the organization sponsored two educational conferences on urinary incontinence and ostomy care and provided financial support to young ostomates who wished to attend the annual United Ostomy Association for America Youth Rally. Nationally, Linda has served as Chairman-elect of the Professional Growth Point (PGP) committee, which is part of the Wound Ostomy Continence Nursing Certification Board. “All WOC nurses must recertify in each specialty every 5 years, and the PGP process provides the WOC nurse an alternative to test-taking — that is, to recertify based on a variety of professional experiences,” she says.

  Whether serving in the United States Navy or with the local WOCN Society affiliate, Linda continues to dedicate her time and energy to enhancing the quality of life of those around her. With more than 20 years in the wound, ostomy, and continence field, a new degree in the works, and the passion to see change happen, the possibilities are endless someone like Linda who finds fulfillment losing herself in her scope of practice.

This article was not subject to the Ostomy Wound Management peer-review process.