USF Nursing alum, Dr. Patricia Quigley, receives 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award
University of South Florida College of Nursing alum, Patricia Quigley, PhD, MPH, ARNP, CRRN, FAAN, FAANP, ’75, received the 2013 USF College of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award during the College’s Coming Home: 40th Anniversary celebrations on Feb. 16.
The Distinguished Alumni Award, created by USF College of Nursing Alumni & Friends Society to acknowledge the personal, professional and community contributions of its alumni, is given to individuals who have distinguished themselves through their exemplary dedication to the profession of nursing.
Dr. Quigley, who has been practicing rehabilitation nursing for more than 34 years, received the distinguished award for demonstrating outstanding accomplishments as a charter graduate of the USF College of Nursing Undergraduate Nursing program in 1975 and the Graduate Nursing program in 1982.
(Left to Right). Dr. Quigley and Dianne Morrison-Beedy, PhD, RN, WHNP-BC, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN, Senior Associate Vice President, USF Health and Dean, USF College of Nursing
“I am very thankful of USF College of Nursing,” said Dr. Quigley, as she tried to fight back tears. “I have spent my whole life trying to wrap my arms around the nursing profession because I have loved this so much. There are times that I have felt when this profession has wrapped its arms around me.”
Dr. Quigley is an Associate Director and Team Leader for Injurious Falls at James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa, Fla. During her career, she has been a nurse practitioner in adult health, a clinical nurse specialist in rehabilitation, and a funded nurse researcher. In addition, she is also an expert in patient safety, program evaluation, rehabilitation, functional independence, fall and injurious fall prevention across settings, and epidemiology.
“Since starting the first nurse practitioner-directed Falls Prevention Clinic at James A Haley VA Medical Center, several other public and private institutions have adopted this successful model,” said Melissa Molinari, Shelton, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor and Alumni and Friends Society President at USF College of Nursing, before she presented her the award. “Dr. Quigley has helped shape the science of fall prevention and management in healthcare. Perhaps most importantly to nursing, she developed a model for clinical falls teams designed to reduce costs and develop interventions and best practices in the prevention and management of falls, the number one injury of patients in hospitals. She pioneered the nurse practitioner role as leader of the falls team, enabling the nurse practitioner to serve as primary provider.”
Under her direction, the model team at James A. Haley Hospital has received continuous funding of over $5 million since 1999. The team has developed clinical and educational tools to translate falls research into clinical practice. Dr. Quigley’s research findings have also been published extensively and translated into practice at the national level.
Since 1986, she has served on 10 editorial review boards and has authored over twenty articles in peer reviewed journals and co-authored twenty-one articles published in interdisciplinary journals. Dr. Quigley has also served as President of the Florida Nurses Association, USF College of Nursing Alumni and Friends Society, and has been a member of expert panels in many national organizations.
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