Patricia S. Groves is an associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Nursing whose research focuses on improving patient safety in hospital settings. Dr. Groves’s interest in hospital safety is rooted in her years as a staff nurse and nursing supervisor, where she observed significant variations in care delivery. Her work explores the intersections of safety culture, bedside nursing practice, and patient safety engagement, with particular attention to how cognition and communication shape safety outcomes. 

Dr. Groves earned her PhD in Nursing from the University of Missouri-Columbia, with a focus on healthcare systems and organizational communication, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the VA Quality Scholars program. Her grounded theory dissertation on nurses’ role in safety culture laid the foundation for a robust research portfolio, including studies on nurse response to patient-expressed safety concerns, shift handoff safety strategies, and safety culture-outcome linkages. Dr. Groves has received funding from the National Institutes for Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the American Nurses Foundation, and her work is widely published in leading nursing journals. She also contributes to healthcare leadership as a director on the Genesis Health Systems Board and is active in a national interdisciplinary quality and safety education symposium.

Curriculum Vitae