A Rehab Nurse Who Helped Build the Specialty

Patricia A. Quigley, PhD, DN(h.c.), APRN, CRRN, FAAN, FAANP, FARN received a Doctor of Nursing Honoris Causa from the University of South Florida in her 51st year as a nurse — the same institution where she completed her nursing degree in 1975. The recognition is reserved for individuals whose contributions to a field outpace anything a curriculum could confer. Dr. Quigley has spent five decades shaping rehabilitation nursing as a specialty, building its standards, mentoring its practitioners, and influencing health policy nationally and internationally.

How Rehabilitation Nursing Became Her Only Calling​

Nursing was Dr. Quigley's only plan. As a girl, she cared for elderly family members. In high school, she volunteered as a Candy Striper at a facility in Front Royal, Virginia, where her great-grandmother was a patient, talking and visiting with older residents and realizing she genuinely loved it. From there came housekeeping work at a hospital, then a nursing home in St. Petersburg, Florida, then a position as a Home Health Aide with the first home health agency in St. Pete while she was still completing her degree at USF.

She graduated in 1975, joined the American Nurses Association right away, and signed up for a clinical specialty group focused on rehabilitation nursing. In 1977, she joined the West Coast District of what would become the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses.

"I don't feel like I fell into rehabilitation nursing. Throughout my career, I fell deeper and deeper in love with it."

Helping Build Rehabilitation Nursing Into a Global Discipline​ 

When Dr. Quigley began practicing, rehabilitation nursing was brand new as a recognized specialty, established in 1974. She has watched and helped it grow from a clinical interest group within the ANA into a globally respected discipline with its own standards of care, certification model, peer-reviewed journal, and evidence-based guiding practitioners around the world.

The Patient Who Stayed With Her​ 

​Early in her career, before her hospital had a dedicated rehab unit, a young man named "John" was admitted to her stroke unit. He had a spinal cord injury from childhood and was in his early thirties. The nursing staff kept trying to fit his care into their shift schedules, and the friction showed.

Dr. Quigley listened. She called a patient care meeting with the nurse manager, key staff, physical therapy, and occupational therapy, and she made "John" the teacher. He walked the team through his schedule and his techniques for transfers and daily care. He became a full partner in his own treatment.

"His autonomy was restored, which has always been the ethical principle I hold most dear in my interactions with patients, family, and all people."

On the Rewards of a Long Career in Rehabilitation Nursing

Rehab nurses follow patients through weeks or months of recovery. When asked how she has carried that weight across 51 years, Dr. Quigley reframes the question entirely.

"My career is one of joy. There is no burden within a thankful heart."

She points to something rehab nurses understand that other specialties can miss: the full shape of a recovery. The setbacks are not failures. "For every two steps forward, there can be a step back, during which balance is regained, resolve is restored, and steps forward continue."

Dr. Quigley's Advice for Nurses Considering Rehabilitation Nursing

When asked what she would tell a nurse considering rehabilitation as a specialty:

"Trust in your knowledge and skills that brought you to this point. Give yourself time to become expert. Surround yourself with people you trust to be honest with you about opportunities for improvement. Celebrate success but learn from all experiences. Do not be afraid to take risks.

Embrace each new day as a rehab nurse with joy, and at the end of the day reflect on the good day you just had and how the next day can be better. Always remember that there are many people in this world who dream of being a nurse, who dream of being a rehab nurse, and never get to have this opportunity. Don't take a single day for granted, nor the privilege of being a nurse. It is an earned privilege."

A Career With No End in Sight

Dr. Quigley describes her career in three trimesters: Practice, Contribution, and Influence. She is well into the third, and she has no plans to close the loop.

When asked how she personally measures whether a career has mattered, she does not reach for metrics.

"I know it through my heart, mind, soul, and body. Everything is as it should be. Once a beginning, like the first day I started nursing, which now has no end. Only forever."