February 16, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Patricia Patrician, Ph.D., R.N., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing and the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center (BVAMC), has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN).

The AAN's approximately 1,500 Fellows are nursing leaders in education, management, practice and research. Invitation to Fellowship recognizes one's accomplishments within the nursing profession, and AAN's Fellows also have a responsibility to contribute their time and energies to the academy.

Patrician, the UAB Donna Brown Banton Endowed Professor and Senior Scholar for Nursing at the National VA Quality Scholars (VAQS) Fellowship Program, is nationally recognized for her research in nursing practice and outcomes, improving the nursing-workforce environment, leadership and education. Her scholarly work is credited with advancing the knowledge of nursing outcomes leading to the improved quality of care for patients and better job satisfaction for nurses.

Patrician retired as a colonel in the U.S. Army and has an exemplary record of progressive military and academic leadership experiences. Prior to coming to UAB, she was chief of the Department of Nursing Science at the Academy of Health Sciences in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and also was an adjunct assistant professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. She has been chief of nursing research Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and chief, Nursing Education Branch, Department of Health Education and Training, Academy of Health Sciences. She also practiced in a number of military hospitals, including Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Fort Gordon, Ga.; Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Fort Campbell, Ky.; and Kenner Army Community Hospital, Fort Lee, Va.

She has earned numerous decorations and awards throughout her distinguished nursing and military service, including several achievement and meritorious service medals, the Nursing Excellence Award at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the nationally awarded Anita Newcomb McGee Army Nurse of the Year and the Legion of Merit and the 9A designator for proficiency in Nursing Research awards from the U.S. Army Medical Command, Fort Sam Houston.

Patrician, who also is a manuscript reviewer for Nursing Research, Research in Nursing and Health, and Journal of Healthcare Management, earned her bachelor's degree from Wilkes University, her master's in nursing from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, her master's in strategic studies from the Army War College and her doctorate in nursing from the University of Pennsylvania.

The American Academy of Nursing anticipates and tracks national and international trends in health care, while addressing resulting issues of health-care knowledge and policy. Its mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis and dissemination of nursing knowledge.

Fellows of the AAN are expected to engage with other health-care leaders outside the academy in transforming America's health-care system by enhancing the quality of health and nursing care; promoting healthy aging and human development across the life continuum; reducing health disparities and inequalities; shaping healthy behaviors and environments; integrating mental and physical health care; and strengthening the nursing and health-care delivery system, nationally and internationally.

About the UAB School of Nursing
Building on a century of nursing education on the UAB campus, the UAB School of Nursing prepares nurse leaders to excel as clinicians, researchers and educators and advances knowledge and delivery of high-quality health care in Alabama and worldwide. The school offers leading-edge bachelor, graduate and doctoral programs and offers students the opportunity to learn with faculty and student teams across health disciplines at UAB.