In this edition of the WOCN® Society Member Spotlight, meet Linda Benskin, PhD, RN, SRN (Ghana), CWCN, CWS, DAPWCA, WOCNF, WHS Associate Fellow. Learn about her journey into WOC nursing, her passion for global healthcare, and how she uses specialized wound care skills to make an impact around the world.
WOC Nursing Journey
Linda has been a nurse for over 40 years and has spent the last 25 years specializing in wound care. Her specialty journey began in tropical developing regions. “There was a clear need for wound specialists in tropical areas of developing countries, which is where I was working.”
Passion for Healthcare
For Linda, healthcare is a creative calling rooted in her spiritual faith, allowing her to combine her technical skills as a scientist, teacher, and guide to care for marginalized populations. “Wound patients are the modern equivalent of lepers,” she explains, noting how often they are neglected and stigmatized. By training lay healthcare workers to treat these patients, she fulfills her primary motivation: “I can use my skills creatively to make a difference in the lives of the people I serve, demonstrating the love of Christ.”
Joining the WOCN Society
Linda joined the WOCN Society after winning 1st place for a Case Study Merit Award poster at her first WOCN conference in 2006 and receiving encouragement from Society leadership. Her favorite part of membership is networking with nurses who have just entered the specialty and are eager to learn.
Proud Moments and Meaningful Connection
Linda takes immense pride in transferring her specialized skills to others—whether she is answering complex questions from surgeons eager to improve their practice or teaching village health workers how to manage complex wounds using only locally available materials. Restoring a patient’s quality of life is equally meaningful to her, especially “when patients who have suffered with chronic wounds for years come to me and I am able to help them get their lives back by teaching them how to manage their pain and get those wounds to close.”
Her clinical work spans basic resource solutions to life-changing patient interventions. Alongside her husband, Richard, she developed the Available Technology Dressing technique to support low-resource settings, a method now spreading globally. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she applied her knowledge of uncontrolled inflammation in chronic wounds to author a widely cited review on vitamin D deficiency and severe COVID-19, which has been cited by over 165 author groups.
Everyday interactions leave a lasting impact, but a few key experiences stand out:
She recalls caring for an elderly Muslim man who was suicidal over a potential amputation, but “we were able to close his wounds using very basic materials.” In another instance, a patient and his wife were so thankful for her remote wound guidance via Signal that they drove across two states just to thank her in person.
Patient experiences have shaped her perspective since the start of her career. About 40 years ago as a pediatric nurse, she cared for a 10-year-old girl who developed sepsis and severe brain damage after her family allowed her to refuse removal of a large splinter in her foot. While they saved the foot, the outcome served as a profound reminder of the long-term consequences of care decisions.
Approach to Healthcare
Linda’s extensive work in challenging, low-resource environments has shaped a deeply pragmatic and patient-centered clinical philosophy. She prioritizes practical outcomes and respects her patients’ individual goals above all else, noting that “people who are living in very challenging environments often prioritize being able to return to work over quick wound closure.” While grounded in the biological science of healing, she believes that true impact relies on commitment and practical training, understanding that “education cannot replace dedication.”
Teaching remains one of the most rewarding aspects of her career, particularly as decision-makers like surgeons actively seek her expertise to improve patient outcomes.
Life Beyond Nursing
Based in Texas, Linda enjoys managing a rural property to restore native species and outdoor activities like snorkeling with her husband.
Looking ahead, long-term, she and her husband plan to update their handbook for village health workers to incorporate the Available Technology Dressing technique and partner with Ministries of Health to expand health education in remote and conflict areas worldwide.
Words of Wisdom
Linda encourages anyone considering a career in nursing to embrace the incredible breadth of opportunities the profession offers. Reflecting on her own path—which ranges from trauma care and research to serving as a missionary nurse—she highlights that “the sky is the limit in nursing” and advises newcomers to explore different specialties to find their unique passion. “Nursing is a very versatile career. You can work in any location in the world and choose from a huge variety of specialties… accept the challenge!”
Thank You, Linda
From helping to improve care for low-resource environments to educating healthcare workers globally, Linda showcases the ingenuity, expertise, and dedication that define WOC nursing.
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