Brian Thorson Receives National Advocacy Award from AANA

Brian Thorson, MA, CRNA, APRN, a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), from Minneapolis, Minn will receive the Ira P. Gunn Award for Outstanding Professional Advocacy during the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) Annual Congress, September 8-12, 2017 in Seattle, Wash.

 

“I will be forever grateful to those who nominated me for this award,” said Brian Thorson, MA, CRNA, APRN. “I have spent the last 30 years advocating for the profession of nurse anesthesia, and have seen positive results in the judicial, legislative, and regulatory areas. “Set your sights on what you want to accomplish and then figure out how to get it done.”

 

Thorson has been a part of every major legislative advancement for nurse anesthesia in Minnesota over the last 25 years. His efforts have resulted in Medicare reimbursement policy being changed, defining CRNA practice in Minnesota’s Nurse Practice Act, and the 2002 Minnesota supervision opt-out from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for CRNAs and other advanced practice nurses. Thorson is both a staff anesthetist and charge nurse anesthetist at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

 

 

Ira P. Gunn Award for Outstanding Professional Advocacy
The Ira P. Gunn Award was established in 2000 to recognize Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists or other persons who make significant contributions to promoting and/or protecting legal, legislative, and regulatory practice rights of nurse anesthetists.