On September 26th, Friar Paul Clark, OFM Conv., participated in the 2013 Research!Louisville Research Conference in Louisville, KY sponsored by Baptist Healthcare, the University of Louisville, Norton Healthcare and Sigma Theta Tau (nursing honor society).  This week-long conference highlights research projects from biological, dental, medical, nursing, and other  bio-behavioral health disciplines, with a specific nursing-focused symposium on the Thursday of the conference week.

Friar Paul with nursing colleagues (left to right) Cathy Cooke, Sara Reece, and Dr. Barbara Polivka with their poster on improving mock codes on medical/surgical floors.

He collaborated with several groups of nursing colleagues on four research projects, the results of which were disseminated via research posters and a podium presentation. Research project presentations included 1) Nurse perceptions of physician colleagues when treating perinatal loss, 2) The meaning, experiences and behaviors of nurses caring for women with a perinatal loss; 3) Building a preceptor support system; and, 4) The relationship between nursing unit variables, unit responder variables, and mock code scores on med/surg units.

Friar Paul Clark is a Registered Nurse with a background in Emergency Nursing.  He completed his PhD in Nursing in 2010 at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and was elected as Secretary of the Province in the same year.  He currently serves in a dual role as System Educator in the Norton Healthcare system (Louisville, KY) assisting nurses with bed- and stretcher-side research projects and, as well, as province secretary for the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Province of Our Lady of Consolation.

Friar Paul working on a medical mission trip in Honduras in 2012