Doctor of Philosophy

Knights in Nursing: Carol Lawrence

Protector of mothers throughout childbirth

“Our efforts to decrease maternal morbidity is making a difference in our community, but our commitment and work will continue until we reach a rate of zero.

Recently we were honored for our efforts to reduce complications in OB patients with the John Curran Quality Improvement Award from the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative. This award has been a career highlight for me, especially considering all of the great perinatal work being done.

Supporting mothers, from labor to mother-infant bonding, has been my passion since the beginning of my career when I worked as an OB nurse. I saw better outcomes when mothers and babies were allowed to stay together. This inspired my research and the creation of a reliable, validated instrument to measure mother-infant togetherness.

This journey has been personal because even my family has benefited from my evidence-based practice efforts. Last year I became a grandma and my grandson was able to experience undisturbed mother-infant togetherness in my hospital system. Knowing that I had a part in his care is especially gratifying. But my higher calling is that I want every family that delivers in our system, and across the nation, to have this same experience.

As nurses, our service to our patients is how we give to our respective communities. As a nurse researcher, I am able to give back to an even larger community by adding to the body of science. It is what motivated me to seek my PhD from UCF, which gave me a strong foundation in research methodology. For it is through evidence-based practice that we deliver excellent care, and our patients deserve nothing less from us.