Clinical Nurse 3
UC Davis Children's Hospital
Aida M. Benitez, MBA, BSN, RN, CNOR is a Clinical Resource Nurse at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, Children’s Surgery Center. Aida has been a registered nurse for 21 years working with both pediatric and adult populations. She joined the operating room nursing team in 2015 after having worked 13 years in critical care. In March 2017 she obtained her specialty certification for perioperative nursing (CNOR). Aida is the RN team leader for Pediatric Neurosurgery, where she coordinated the separation of craniopagus conjoined twins in 2020. Additionally, she is the team leader for the Fetal Surgery Team and is currently the operating room team leader for the CuRe Stem Cell trial being performed by Dr. Diana Farmer. She has been a primary preceptor to over a dozen new RN graduates since 2016. Aida developed and currently maintains the “CSC Collective Brain.” This is an online, fluid document available to all staff that contains information about surgeon preferences, case-specific details, pictures and other reference materials. In addition, she assists anesthesia staff with Code Blue simulation and training and is an annual presenter at “ENT Bootcamp” simulation training for incoming ENT interns/residents. Aida has been awarded multiple Annual Nursing Excellence Awards for “Exemplary Professional Practice”, “Professional Governance”, and “Relationships and Teamwork” in 2017, 2021, and 2023. Additionally, she was also awarded the Star Preceptor Award for Cohort 26 in Quarter III 2019, the Daisy Team Award in December 2019, a Career Ladder Promotion to Clinical Resource Nurse (Clinical Nurse III) in February 2020, and a second Daisy Team Award in December 2021. Aida has been the Vice President of the AORN Capital CA Chapter 0515 since April of 2023.