An Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at McMaster University, Patricia has been an advocate for a palliative approach to care in regional, national and international venues. She is passionate about illuminating and advancing nurses’ relational expertise with seriously ill patients and their families- no matter the circumstance or how fleeting the interaction. She is fascinated by language and its power to make a difference when people are experiencing stress, loss and uncertainty. Dr. Strachan is deeply committed to optimizing education for meaningful engagement in relational aspects of palliative care that are grounded in a critical paradigm.

 In October 2023 Patricia launched the podcast Radical Nurse Talk in an effort to promoteunderstanding that nurses’ communication can be a radical act of care.The result is a tapestry of conversations with inspiring guests from diverse nursing contexts that reveal the often hidden and important work that humans need from nurses  to live and die well. The podcast and resources for each episode are available at www.radicalnursetalk.com 

The podcast can be accessed from many podcast platforms including Apple and Spotify and/or linked to from the website. Listeners include an international audience of nurses and the lay public. Season 2 was released beginning in January 2024.

A passionate and innovative nurse educator, Patricia has drawn from the arts, philosophy and science to engage learners in imagining the possibilities for nurses and nursing. She is an expert in problem-based learning and nursing education. Most recently her scholarship has taken a poetic turn expressed in the writing of poetry to explore, play with and critique the intersection of language, care and existential issues related to serious illness.