Patricia is a registered nurse and midwife who has worked across a range of clinical settings and moved into academia in 2002. She currently works in an innovative joint post between the Southern Health and Social Care Trust as Head of Research and Development for Nurses, Midwives and AHPs and as a Reader in the School of Nursing. She is Associate Post Graduate Tutor for the Maternal, Fetal and Infant Research Centre. Patricia is a supervisor for PhD and MSc students and lead of the Athena Swan Sub Group for Culture and Support in the School of Nursing

Her research interests are focused on workplace culture, including bullying and burnout, place of birth, Perinatal Mental Health and Personal and Public Involvement (PPI) in research. She has published widely in peer review and professional journals and has been invited to speak at national and international conferences.

As a member of a multidisciplinary team of researchers, Patricia is examining the impact of providing health and social care in the UK during COVID-19 on nurses, midwives, AHPs, social care workers and social workers. Further to the co-production of the Regional RQIA Guidelines on Admission to Midwifery Led Units in Northern Ireland (2016) and leading on the development of the RQIA Planning to Birth at Home Guideline (2019), she is leading research into women and healthcare providers’ experiences of planned home birth.

Patricia’s PhD explored the nature and manifestations of bullying in the workplace, particularly in midwifery and she has published widely including a Cochrane Review of the Effectiveness of Interventions to Prevent Bullying in the Workplace. She has undertaken workplace bullying research with student midwives in Switzerland and Austria and taught about theory development and bullying under an Erasmus Staff Teaching Assignment. She is currently collaborating with colleagues in Spain who are using the data collection tool developed during her PhD to undertake research into student midwives experiences of workplace bullying in Spain.

She is a UK representative for the European Midwives Association, was previously Chair of the UK Board of the Royal College of Midwives (2011-2015) and a registrant member of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Midwifery Committee (2014-2017).

Patricia is an experienced teacher of pre and post registration nurses, midwives, AHPs and other health care professionals and students. She has extensive experience of teaching at undergraduate and post graduate level and was awarded her Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2013.

Patricia’s teaching and assessment is focused on implementing research in practice and she also lectures on the Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics courses.

Patricia has been invited to bring her expertise on workplace bullying into teaching, nursing and midwifery students in Ulster and Queens University Belfast, respectively.