Patricia McNeilly worked for many years as a registered nurse in both the hospital and community setting before entering higher education in 2003.  Since that time Patricia has developed an extensive teaching portfolio, teaching undergraduate and masters level students.  Passionate about children’s nursing, Patricia’s key areas of interest are caring for children with complex and palliative care needs and their families as evidenced in the dissemination of her work via publications and conferences and ongoing work with other local and national  stakeholders in this area .  Patricia obtained her PhD in 2014 at Queen’s University Belfast and has published and presented her work widely.