Patricia F. Gardner, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, CARN-AP

Assistant Professor

photo placeholder for Gardner, Patricia F.

Contact

pattigardner@creighton.edu
College of Nursing
Faculty - Nursing
CRISS II - Criss 2 - 220F

Patricia F. Gardner, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, CARN-AP

Assistant Professor

Patti Gardner, DNP, APRN-NP, PMHNP-BC, is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at Creighton University. Her clinical and research interests center on psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) education, perinatal mental health, ADHD, and substance use disorders. She holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Nebraska Methodist College and post-master’s certificates in PMHNP and nurse midwifery. Dr. Gardner practices at Lincoln Psychiatric Group and is actively involved in graduate-level teaching and mentoring DNP students. Her recent scholarly projects include a grant-funded study on using a medication reminder app to enhance adherence among patients with mental health disorders. Her research integrates clinical innovation with patient-centered outcomes and contributes to advancing mental health practice. Her work has been published in Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursingand Journal of Human Lactation. She envisions contributing to a healthcare landscape that prioritizes integrative, evidence-based mental health care across the lifespan.

Teaching Interests

  • Substance Use Disorder

Research Focus

Innovation technology to support medication adherence.
ADHD.
Innovative teaching and learning strategies.
Perinatal mental health.

Department

Nursing - Doctorate

Position

Assistant Professor

Presentations

  • Stress First Aid (SFA) is a framework to improve recovery from stress reactions, both in oneself and in coworkers. The model aims to support and validate good friendship, mentorship and leadership actions through core actions that help to identify and address early signs of stress reactions in an ongoing way (not just after "critical incidents"). The goal of SFA is to identify stress reactions in self and others along a continuum and to help reduce the likelihood that stress outcomes develop into more severe or long-term problems. The core actions of SFA are appropriate for many occupational settings during critical events as well as for ongoing care. The manuals, trainings and resources below focus on health care workers; links to information about SFA versions specific to high-risk occupations like military, fire and rescue, law enforcement, and pretrial and probation settings are found under Additional SFA Versions and Manuals. 2024
  • I presented my DNP project/poster at the Nebraska Nurse Practitioner Annual conference. 2023