Patricia Sweeney

Patricia Sweeney
Chair, Graduate program

Dr. Patricia Sweeney is an associate professor of nursing at Wilkes University where she coordinates the distance education Family Nurse Practitioner program. She has been a nationally board-certified family nurse practitioner and nursing educator for more than 30 years. Her clinical expertise is in the treatment of episodic illness in the urgent care setting.  

Dr. Sweeney’s scholarship interests include improving outcomes in clinical practice and critical thinking for nurse practitioner students. Dr. Sweeney’s research presentations and publications include decreasing antibiotic use for common respiratory conditions; differentiating among common respiratory clinical problems; using clinical guidelines effectively; measuring nurse practitioner outcomes; and patient simulation and standardized patients in an online nurse practitioner program. Dr. Sweeney has presented podium and poster presentations at conferences at the local, state, and national level.  

Dr. Sweeney has served as the president of the Nurse Practitioners of Northeast Pennsylvania. She also served on the board of directors of the Nursing Foundation of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association, and the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. 

Dr. Sweeney earned her PhD from Pennsylvania State University, a master’s degree in nursing from The State University of New York at Binghamton, and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Wilkes University.