Patricia Thielemann, PhD, RN is a full-time faculty member at St. Petersburg College, in the College of Nursing RN-BSN completion program. Dr. Thielemann has over twenty years experience working in a variety of health care settings including hospitals, out-patient programs, home health care and hospice. Most of Dr. Thielemann's recent work has focused on end-of-life care including palliative and hospice issues. She has lectured, presented, researched, and published information on topics primarily related to end-of-life concerns. She has been an active member and Chair of several Ethics Committees. Dr. Thielemann moved to Tampa to earn a PhD in nursing at the University of South Florida (USF). USF is unique in that if offers an end-of-life focus for doctoral candidates. Her dissertation studied caregivers of patient's with end stage lung cancer. Currently Dr. Thielemanns nursing focus is on enhancing the education and professionalism of nurses through formal education.