Children’s Minnesota Simulation Program receives
re-accreditation
The Children’s Minnesota Simulation Program received re-accreditation in the areas of teaching/education and systems integration from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH). Accreditation is granted for five years.
To achieve SSH accreditation, organizations must pass an extensive application process, including submitting a detailed self-study and hosting a one-day site visit. For certain aspects of the program to be reaccredited, further criteria must be met and evidence provided. Children’s Minnesota pursued and was granted reaccreditation in the following areas:
- Teaching/education: The program demonstrated regular, recurring simulation educational activities with clearly stated objectives and qualified educators, and provided evidence of ongoing improvement of these activities.
- System integration: The program demonstrated regular and recurring, intentional, bi-directional interaction with clinical partner(s) and expertise in the development, implementation, and validation of system improvement activities.
“We’re thrilled to be reaccredited! This milestone reflects the passion and hard work of our team in creating meaningful simulation experiences that improve patient care,” said Tonya Montesinos, MS, BSN, RN, NE-BC, NPD-BC, CPPM, senior director of clinical practice. “Simulation is one of the most effective ways teams can prepare for high-risk, low-volume emergencies. It offers health care professionals a chance to learn, grow, and strengthen the skills that matter most when every second counts. We’re proud to invest resources in these crucial educational offerings and be recognized for the safe, remarkable care it promotes.”
Reviewers praised the Children’s Minnesota Simulation Program for its experienced and growing operations team capable of supporting three locations and multiple programs simultaneously with high-fidelity manikins and task trainers that create a realistic training environment. The program was also recognized for its measurable influence and impact on internal departments and external partners.
The Children’s Minnesota Simulation Program was established in 2007 with the mission of making health care safe for children by advancing patient safety within our own walls and delivering pediatric training to other health care teams in the region. The program teaches over 350 classes a year, serving approximately 3,000 health care professionals.
Simulation team
- Tonya Montesinos, MS, BSN, NE-BC, NPD-BC, PHN, CPPM, senior director of clinical practice
- Aaron Simpson, NREMT, simulation operations manager
- Jill Johnson, MSN-Ed, RN, CHSE, simulation education specialist
- Samrina Naqvi, MD, (MBBS), MHA, CHSOS, simulation education specialist
- Ryan Anderson, BS, simulation operations specialist
- Nick Kowalski, BA, CNA, simulation operations specialist
- Luke Mitchell, BS, CHSOS, simulation operations specialist
- Taha Syed, BA, simulation operations specialist
- Crystal Walker, administrative assistant
Children’s Minnesota nurses honored with DAISY Award
The DAISY Award is an international recognition program that celebrates extraordinary nurses and the skillful, compassionate care they provide patients and families every day. We are proud to be a DAISY Award partner and have celebrated over 200 nurses since its establishment at Children’s Minnesota in 2008.
The DAISY Award was created by the DAISY Foundation, formed in 1999 by Bonnie and Mark Barnes after losing their son, J. Patrick Barnes, to complications of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), an auto-immune disease. The Barnes family was awestruck by the work nurses do every day for patients and families, and they wanted to say “thank you” to nurses everywhere. The DAISY (Diseases Attacking the Immune System) Award is now celebrated in over 6,500 health care organizations, in schools of nursing in all 50 states, and in 44 countries around the world! Over 260,000 nurses have received The DAISY Award and over 3.5 million nominations have been written.
DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses
Taylor Budnick, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, St. Paul float team
Lili Koszewski, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, PACU St. Paul
Raeann Pfeiffer, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, 7th floor Minneapolis
Sierra Pierre, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, St. Paul NICU
Anita Thornhill, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, Minneapolis PICU
DAISY Nurse Leader Award
Recognizes nurse leaders who create an environment of compassion and recognition for others. They inspire their staff to do their very best and role model caring behaviors. They provide a setting where compassion is valued and staff, in turn, treat patients and their families with deep humanity.
- Raina Estrem-Hasch, BSN, RN, PHN, patient care manager, St. Paul NICU
DAISY Award for Nurses Advancing Health Equity
Recognizes individual nurses or nurse-led teams whose work advances health equity, mitigating health disparities that are caused by social determinants of health.
- Minneapolis emergency department team
DAISY Award for Nurse Educators
Honors the extraordinary work of a nurse who makes strides to improve practice and advance patient care through teaching, precepting and mentoring.
- Allison Brown, BSN, RN, clinical educator, St. Paul float team
- Jarell Koras, MSN, RN, PED-BC, CPN, CLC, clinical educator, St. Paul float team
- Rosa Ruiz Mendez, BSN, RN, clinical educator, St. Paul float team
DAISY Award for Nursing Ethics
Recognizes nurse leaders and clinical nurses whose leadership, compassion and clinical practice demonstrate the importance of human values and ethics in nursing.
- Anna Erickson, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, St. Paul NICU
Celebrating Nurses Awards recipients
The Nurses Awards at Children’s Minnesota recognize nurses who demonstrate excellence in the REACH Nursing Professional Model categories: Advancing Excellence, Partners in Care, Nursing Care Delivery, Shared Governance and The Children’s Way. Recipients are nominated by their peers and selected by the Recognition and Retention Council.
Awards are presented during Nurses Week, which is an annual event devoted to recognizing the many ways nurses create remarkable experiences and provide the best care for the patients and families we serve. Nurses Week is celebrated in May to also honor the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.
Advancing Excellence
- Jennifer Barry, BSN, RN, patient care manager, Mercy NICU
- Megan Meyer-Voigt, BSN, RN, patient care supervisor, St. Paul NICU
Partners in Care
- Josie Griffin, BSN, RN, clinical services supervisor II, gynecology clinic
- Margaret Boland, BSN, RN, nurse case manager
Nursing Care Delivery
- Jessica Vikla, BSN, RN, clinical educator, Minneapolis ED
- Lexia Levendoski, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, Mercy NICU
Shared Governance
- Anastasia Brown, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, hematology-oncology clinic
- Laura Barrett, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, limited stay unit
The Children’s Way
- Lawrence Kling, BSN, RN, home care nurse
- Savana Swenson, BSN, RN, clinical nurse, inpatient mental health unit
Nicole Beckmann, APP nurse scientist, named Pediatric Nurse Practitioner of the Year by state-wide organization
The Minnesota chapter of the Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners named Nicole Beckmann, PhD, APRN, CPNP-PC, advanced practice provider (APP) nurse scientist, as ‘Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) of the Year.’
As a PhD, PNP, Nicole readily distinguishes herself as a rare bird in the world of advanced practice providers. She is an expert clinician having practiced in pediatric bone marrow transplant, urology surgery, hospital medicine, and currently, neonatology (special care nursery and infant care center).
As Children’s Minnesota’s first-ever APP nurse scientist, she supports numerous studies in quality improvement, evidence-based practice, and research by nurses and advanced practice providers across the organization. In 2024, she wrote and presented a grant proposal to the Pine Tree Apple Classic Fund, securing a $1 million endowment for clinical and advanced practice nurses in our cancer and blood disorders (CBD) program who are interested in doing research.
Nicole is also an educator and faculty member at St. Catherine University, serving as director of their Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program and providing oversight to their PNP program.
Nicole is known for her work ethic, professionalism and thoughtfulness. She’s a champion for children’s health and shines a bright light on how pediatric nurses positively impact clinical, educational and research environments.
St. Paul PICU receives silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence
Children’s Minnesota is incredibly proud to share that the St. Paul pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) was awarded a silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). This is the first unit in the Children’s Minnesota health system to receive this honor.
The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes units that distinguish themselves by providing high-quality patient care in a healthy work environment. The award highlights caregivers whose consistent and systematic approach to evidence-based care, and unit and hospital culture, optimizes outcomes.
To be eligible, the St. Paul PICU reported defined criteria in three modules: patient outcomes, work environment and nursing workforce. The unit scored highest in the nursing workforce module, which reviewed factors such as average tenure on the unit, average years of nursing experience, certification attainment and renewal, and professional organization membership. Children’s Minnesota’s financial support for nurse professional development and certifications, along with the Transition to Practice program, also helped boost scores.
The St. Paul PICU also shined in the patient outcomes category due to having no central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLBSIs) for nearly six years, and low rates of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), possible ventilator-associated pneumonia (PVAP) and falls.
The award was presented at the National Teaching Institute (NTI) Conference in New Orleans, La. Matt Houle, MSN, RN, patient care supervisor, St. Paul PICU, and Sara Wiplinger, DNP, APRN, PICU clinical nurse specialist, accepted the award on the unit’s behalf.
Through the lengthy and rigorous application process, the St. Paul PICU nurses were able to showcase their contributions to ensuring quality, safety and satisfaction; creating a healthy work environment; and developing skills and competencies to continuously perfect their craft.
Shika Kalevor, clinical ethicist, publishes and presents research
Shika Kalevor, MBE, BSN, RN, HEC-C, clinical ethicist at Children’s Minnesota, was the keynote speaker at a University of Minnesota nursing ethics event in October 2025. She highlighted how ethics shape everyday decision-making and shared practical examples of how nurses can apply the 2025 American Nurses Association Code of Ethics updates to topics including:
- Social media and combating misinformation
- Gender-affirming care
- Ethical use of AI
- Planetary health
In fall 2025, Kalevor also published her research article, “Navigating artificial intelligence in nursing: An ethical exploration of benefits, risks and educational shifts,” in Nursing Outlook. The article explores advances in technology, including generative AI, and their impact on the nursing profession and the delivery of care. Kalevor’s leadership and scholarship continue to strengthen ethical nursing practice at Children’s Minnesota and beyond.
Nurses give presentation about high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) guidelines at Magnet Conference
Courtney Kenefick, DNP, APRN, CNS, clinical nurse specialist, and Katie Allen, BSN, RN, clinical educator, 6th floor Minneapolis, were selected to present at the 2025 Magnet Conference in Atlanta, Ga. The conference was attended by about 14,000 nurses from the United States and abroad.
Their poster highlighted Children’s Minnesota’s 2022–2023 work to improve oxygen delivery, driven by the need to support higher flow rates on medical/surgical units and to respond to the 2022 respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) influx.
This multidisciplinary effort required significant nursing practice change and laid the foundation for high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) guidelines, which went live in fall 2023 and remain in use today. The poster also described the rapid improvements seen in 2022, including a decreased length of stay for children on HFNC.
Project co-authors Brie Bloomquist, MD, pediatric hospitalist, and Katie Brunsberg, MD, medical director of quality, supported and advanced this initiative and ensured Kenefick and Allen were able to share Children’s Minnesota’s quality improvement efforts at this national conference.
Five Children’s Minnesota nurses present at Association for Nursing Professional Development conference
Five Children’s Minnesota nurses presented at the Minnesota Chapter of the Association for Nursing Professional Development conference where the theme was “Navigating Positive Change in Nursing Practice 2025.” Their presentation topics included the following:
- Anna Erickson, BSN, RN, NICU, and Sally Hagen, BSN, RN, CCRN, CVICU, presented, “Mitigating Moral Distress through Unit-Based Ethics Liaisons.”
- La’Anna R. Johnson, BSN, RN, PHN, OHN, CCRN-K, clinical equity education specialist, and Erica Cooper, MSN, RN, PED-BC, NPD-BC, clinical education specialist, presented, “Observing for Equity: A Tool to Disrupt Inequities and Bias in Education and Elevate Adult Learning.” Cooper is also a member of the conference planning committee.
- Amanda Melin, MSN, RN, CPN, clinical education specialist, presented, “Cultivating Resilience: Leveraging Film and Literature to Mitigate Moral Distress in Healthcare.”
Sharing nursing knowledge is a cornerstone of professional practice. When we share what works at Children’s Minnesota, we help improve patient outcomes, strengthen safety, and support the growth of a resilient workforce. By exchanging insights and best practices, we also build a stronger, more connected nursing community — locally and beyond. We’re proud of our presenters and grateful for the work they do every day to advance nursing practice at Children’s Minnesota.
Celebrating excellence: Children’s Minnesota APP Award recipients
Children’s Minnesota proudly recognized two outstanding advanced practice providers (APPs) for their exceptional contributions to patient care, education, and professional leadership through the inaugural APP Awards.
Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Teaching Award: Ashley Gyura
Ashley Gyura, DNP, APRN, CPNP-PC, has set a remarkable standard for APP education and mentorship. Her passion for pediatric care and infectious disease education has transformed learning experiences for countless clinicians. Through her leadership in local and national forums, Ashley has made complex topics accessible and engaging, empowering APPs to deliver evidence-based care with confidence.
Students describe Ashley as inspiring and generous with her knowledge. One student shared:
“Ashley’s passion for infectious disease was contagious in the best way — she inspired me and others to think deeper, care harder, be better listeners, and be endlessly dedicated to learning. Learning from her was such a gift!”
— Chonhanh Vuvan
Her influence extends beyond the clinical setting as an active leader in the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), where her advocacy and expertise shape national conversations in pediatric infectious disease. Ashley exemplifies rigorous, compassionate, and collaborative teaching, leaving a lasting impact on Children’s Minnesota and the APP profession.
Gretchen McGuire Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Clinical Excellence Award: In memory of Gretchen McGuire
This prestigious award honors the legacy of Gretchen McGuire, MSN, CPNP-AC, a trailblazer whose vision revolutionized pediatric cardiac critical care at Children’s Minnesota. Recognizing a critical need for specialized, consistent, and expert care within the rapidly evolving field of pediatric cardiac intensive care, she envisioned a model where advanced practice providers could play a central, indispensable role.
At the time, dedicated APP coverage in cardiovascular intensive care units (CVICUs) was not a standard practice, particularly in pediatric settings. Gretchen pioneered the integration of APPs into the CVICU, establishing a model that improved patient outcomes, enhanced team efficiency, and ensured continuity of care.
Her leadership in developing APP roles, advocating for their value, and mentoring future providers created a foundation for excellence that continues today. Gretchen’s work exemplified innovation, collaboration and unwavering dedication to pediatric patients.
Gretchen tragically passed away in June 2025, but her impact lives on through this award and the thriving APP program she helped build. Her legacy will continue to inspire generations of clinicians committed to advancing pediatric critical care.
Minnesota Hospital Association honors Children’s Minnesota nurses for “Innovation in Patient Care”
Three Children’s Minnesota nurses were among the Kid Experts who received the “Innovation in Patient Care” Award from the Minnesota Hospital Association for developing and implementing new mental health scrubs designed for smaller patients. The nurses recognized include Carly Glander, MBA, MSN, RN, manager of patient experience; Jen Olsen, MHA, BAN, RN, former patient care manager, St. Paul emergency department; and Jessica White, BSN, RN, PHN, patient care manager, Minneapolis 6th floor.
The initiative was developed in response to staff and family feedback about the lack of appropriately sized attire for patients arriving at our emergency department (ED) who are experiencing a mental health crisis or awaiting community placement. A dedicated workgroup researched industry options and identified a gap, ultimately sourcing and introducing new aqua scrubs designed specifically for smaller children. The project enhances comfort, safety, and respect for vulnerable patients, setting a new standard for patient-centered care.
CARE Award: Celebrating departmental excellence
Patient experience is at the heart of everything we do. It reflects how families feel about the care they receive, increasing trust, safety and satisfaction. Recognizing excellence in this area highlights the incredible work our teams do every day.
The CARE Award honors departments that consistently go above and beyond to create meaningful care experiences for children and families. CARE stands for compassionate, accountable and remarkable experience.
This quarterly recognition goes to those achieving a Net Promoter Score (NPS) at or above the 75th percentile based on the National Research Corporation (NRC) Health’s pediatric benchmarks during the past 12 months. The NPS is measured using a single survey question asking respondents to rate the likelihood that they would recommend Children’s Minnesota to a friend or colleague.
Congratulations to 2025 CARE Award recipients
- Heart clinic (5-time winner!)
- Neurosurgery – Minneapolis (5-time winner!)
- Feeding clinic (4-time winner!)
- Sedation and procedural services – St. Paul (4-time winner!)
- Walk-in clinic – West St. Paul (3-time winner!)
- Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) – Mercy (2-time winner!)
- Complex care clinic – Minneapolis
- Cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU)
- Endocrinology – Woodbury
- Sleep lab – St. Paul
- Specialty pharmacy
