Nursing at Nationwide Children's
Welcome to your search for nursing information at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Our patient care teams are made up of high-performing leaders who care enough for their patients to go the extra mile to strive to be better. Excellent patient care happens when nursing staff have the right education, correct levels of staff to provide care, and use research and evidence as the basis for their decisions.
Everyday at Nationwide Children’s, I see pride, genuine concern for children, family-centered care, and teams working together in our clinics and on our units to create best outcomes for our patients and families. We are committed to providing an environment that lets our patients, families, visitors, staff and physicians know everyone's voice matters and they are understood, respected and supported when they are at Nationwide Children's.
Best Regards,
Lee Ann Wallace, MBA, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Chief Nursing Officer, Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services
Nationwide Children's Hospital
A New Strategic Plan for Nursing
- The first is to recognize nursing’s unique contribution in achieving and leading to best outcomes for our patients and families across the many and diverse practice settings.
- The second is to create an infrastructure to support an environment in which our nurses can grow, thrive and advance their practice.
- The third centers around maximizing the professional practice environment for our nurses, an environment that supports nurses practicing at the top of their scope, measuring and reporting your direct contribution to patient outcomes, expanding opportunities for fellowships and professional advancement, and the development of a formal structure for nursing research.
- We know our aspirational vision for nursing can only happen through our final aim around ongoing recruitment and retention of the best and the brightest.
Our vision is to develop all nurses as leaders in their professional practice, recognize their unique contribution in achieving best outcomes for patients and families, and provide the infrastructure to support a healthy work environment.
The Center for Nursing Excellence
The Center for Nursing Excellence was formed in response to the new Nursing Strategic Plan, from the department of Professional Development. Currently, the Center has five major foci. The first is the education of nurses on their professional path. This education includes everything from orientation and transition to a new role to expert education to help them develop on one of four professional paths: expert practitioner, leadership, education or clinical inquiry.
A second focus is nursing research, innovation and evidence-based practice. Team members in this area focus on developing new knowledge for nursing practice, basing practice on evidence, and creating opportunities for nurses to learn and conduct clinical inquiry within the organization.
The next focus of the Center is nursing recognition. The purpose of this focus is to track nursing outcomes and celebrate nursing achievement through Magnet, nurse-sensitive indicators, and nursing celebrations such as Nurses’ Month.
Nursing Student Experience is the next focus, and this team works with student placement and creating an excellent experience for students to learn and develop into professional nurses. This includes working with our academic partners to develop innovative models of learning.
The final focus is on nursing knowledge resources. Our interdisciplinary library is a part of this team, but the future goal is to develop a repository of pediatric nursing knowledge to guide nursing standards and practices around family-centered nursing care.
Everything Matters: In Patient Care
Click here to view the latest issue of Everything Matters: In Patient Care, where we celebrate nursing excellence at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
Points of Pride: Our National Presence as Forerunners
- Surlina Asamoa, MSN, MHA, RN, CCM, Led Hair Equity Project featured on Good Morning America
- Gail Bagwell, DNP, APRN, CNS, President of National Association of Neonatal Nurses
- Mary Church, BSN, RN, 2022, Donna Pruzansky Fund for Maternal & Child Health Nursing Grant Awardee through the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association
- Sheila Giles, BSN, RN, CPN, Helped create a new Burn Specialty in Nursing with the American Nurses’ Association
- Erin Keels, DNP, APRN, NNP-BC, President, Ohio Board of Nursing
- Tim Landers, PhD, RN, CNP, CIC, FAAN, Director for the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
- Cathleen Opperman, DNP, RN, NPD-BC, Board of Directors, Association for Nursing Professional Development
- Kim Regis, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, CPNP-PC, BCC, Co-Chair, DEI Taskforce, American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing
- Vicki von Sadovszky, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, FAAN, Editor-in-Chief, Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing
- Sharon Wrona, DNP, CPNP-PC, FAAN, Past President, American Society for Pain Management Nursing
Daisy Award Winners
Daisy Nominees Since 2018: 707
2020
- Sophia Pierce, RN, BSN
- Stacey Cruikshank, MSN, APRN
- Marissa Kabbaz, RN
- Danielle Aquila, RN
2021
- Amber Ball, RN, BSN, CPEN, P-SAN
- Kendra Sauter, BSN, RN
- Kwasi Minta, RN
- Lauren Montaine, RN
2022
- Kimberly Stumpf, CRNA
Nurse Employees of the Month
2020
- Pam Hulls, BSN, RN-BC
- Autumn Lane, MS, APRN, NNP-BC
- Holly Hale, BSN, RN
- Jennifer Pauken, MSN, RN, CPN
- Linda Collins, RN, BSN, BC
2021
- Lauren Renner, CPNP-PC
- John Cleghorn, NNP
- Sherry Combs, BSN, RN
- Surlina Asamoa, MSN, RN
2022
- Denise Howe, BSN, RN
Nurse Manager of the Month
- Kristie Fiorella, RN, MS, COHN-S
Professional Pathways
Orientation Programming
- LAUNCH
- UAP
Professional Path: Expert Leader
- Courses
- Mentorship
- TTP
Professional Path: Expert Educator
- Courses
- Mentorship
- TTP
- Educator/Symposia
Educator Forum
- Professional Development
- Unit Educators
- External Educators (i.e. Schools of Nursing)
Professional Path: Expert APP* Clinician
- Fellowship
- Courses
- Mentorship
Professional Path: Expert RN Clinician
- New Grad/Residency
- And Academy*
- 2nd Year Program*
- RN Fellowship*
- Novice to Expert Education
- Preceptor/Mentorship
Continuing Education
- Joint Accreditation/Cloud CME
- Professional Certifications
* Planned Development
Our National Presence as Scholars
- 167 publications in professional journals
- 153 professional presentations
- Over $250,000 in externally funded grants
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Nursing Students: For Our Future Nurses
Nationwide Children’s Hospital partners with more than 50 nursing schools to provide educational experiences for nursing students. In the past year, more than 1,800 nursing students gained firsthand pediatric nursing experience here.
The Professional Development Department offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate nursing student placements.
To be eligible for an undergraduate placement at Nationwide Children's, you must be attending one of the affiliated programs listed below:
- Ashland University - Dwight Schar College of Nursing (BSN/Grad)
- Aspen University (RN-BSN/Grad)
- Benedictine University (Graduate)
- Capital University (BSN/Grad)
- Case Western Reserve (Graduate)
- Central Ohio Technical College (ADN)
- Chamberlain College of Nursing (BSN/Grad)
- Chatham University (Graduate)
- Columbus State Community College (ADN)
- Drexel University (Graduate)
- Fitchburg State University (Graduate)
- Franklin University (Graduate)
- Frontier Nursing University (Graduate)
- George Mason University (Graduate)
- Georgetown University (Graduate)
- Grand Canyon University (Graduate)
- Hocking College (ADN)
- Indiana State University (Graduate)
- Indiana Wesleyan University (Graduate)
- Kent State University (Graduate)
- Liberty University (Graduate)
- Marion Technical College (ADN)
- Maryville University (Graduate)
- Miami University (BSN, RN-BSN)
- Mt Carmel College of Nursing (BSN/Grad)
- Mt Saint Joseph University (Grad/DNP)
- Mt Vernon Nazarene University (BSN)
- Muskingum University (BSN)
- North Central State College (ADN)
- Ohio Northern University (BSN)
- Ohio University- Athens (BSN/Grad)
- Ohio University- Chillicothe (ADN)
- Ohio University- Zanesville (ADN)
- Otterbein University (BSN/Grad)
- Purdue University (Graduate)
- Regis University (Graduate)
- Rush University (Graduate)
- Texas Tech University (Graduate)
- The Ohio State University (BSN/Grad)
- University of Akron (Graduate)
- University of Alabama - Birmingham (Graduate)
- University of Cincinnati (Graduate)
- University of Colorado - Denver (Graduate)
- University of Montana (Grad/DNP)
- University of South Alabama (Graduate)
- University of Southern Indiana (Graduate)
- University of Toledo (Graduate)
- Vanderbilt University (Graduate)
- West Virginia University (Graduate)
- Wheeling Jesuit University (Graduate)
- Wittenberg University (BSN)
- Wright State University (BSN/Grad)
- Xavier University (Graduate)
Every Story Matters
“When I started off at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, I was a volunteer and then became a Patient Care Assistant on that same unit. While being a PCA, I would work with our kids who would transfer to our psychiatric unit. I would often sit with the kids for eight to twelve hours playing cards, watching movies and exploring their lives that lead them into this acute or long-standing mental health crisis. The concept of building rapport, gaining their trust and being empathetic and how that impacts a patient’s care all truly called me to nursing.”
Kwasi Minta, Charge RN, Behavioral Health
“My older sister became a nurse and worked in the NICU at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. I would listen to her stories and all the amazing experiences she had with these babies and their families every day, and I immediately knew I wanted to go down the same path. My favorite part about this job is the interactions you get to have with the kiddos daily. They are hilarious and have such big personalities."
Molly McClanahan, Ambulatory RN, Urology Clinic
“Working for Partners For Kids is the toughest but most rewarding experience I’ve had to date in my nursing career. The most important thing I learned is that nursing is more than taking vitals and administering medications. It’s about changing patients’ lives for the better.”
Adama Diallo, RN Care Coordinator, Partners For Kids
Find Your Passion, Pursue Your Purpose
Nurses and advance practice providers are on the front lines of health care every day. At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, those front lines treat more than 1.7 million patients, from all 50 states and around the globe, every year. Join the more than 14,000 people at Nationwide Children’s who work everyday to make lives better for kids.
