Park Nicollet Health Services

Site Profile

Park Nicollet Health Services is a nonprofit, integrated healthcare system based out of St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Park Nicollet Clinic is one of the largest multispecialty clinics in the United States, providing care in more than 55 medical and surgical services through our 29 clinics, and hospital locations in metropolitan and suburban Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. It is the home of 8 specialty institutes, including the International Diabetes Center. Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, a 426 bed facility in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, is recognized as an area leader in cancer care, cardiovascular services, maternity care and neuro-rehabilitation medicine.

Park Nicollet Medication Management Services: Medication management (MTM) was first established in 2011. Park Nicollet has 19 MTM pharmacists integrated into the primary care teams at 13 primary care clinics and 6 specialties. The emphasis of the residency program is in primary care clinics, however there is strong value to a cohesive pharmacy services team. Other Pharmacy Services: 340B, Inpatient services include emergency department services, home infusion, hospice, clinical specialists – oncology, intensive care, anticoagulation management, antimicrobial stewardship and medication related transitional care projects.

Educational Experience 

The resident will work collaboratively in a primary care clinic within the medical home team model to optimize a patient’s medication related clinical outcomes. We follow the pharmaceutical care model of providing medication management. The resident will see patients in a direct patient care role in an established clinic and manage a patient schedule. The resident will also serve as a resource to the clinic, answering questions, conducting trainings, and participating in quality improvement projects as determined by the clinic team. The resident will further develop and manage the practice, requiring leadership, time-management and self-motivation skills. Training and development will occur on many levels through the year, dependent on the needs and interests of the resident.

The resident will spend 4 days a week providing MTM services at the Park Nicollet Family Medicine and Internal Medicine Clinics in the western suburbs. These days will include in person, phone, and virtual MTM visits, answering drug information questions of providers, and responding to inbasket messages. The resident will spend 1 day per week on management activities, attending organizational meetings, completing resident and research projects, and optional teaching opportunities. Other required activities include participating in regularly scheduled journal club/topic discussions and attending meetings, including a monthly MTM practitioner meeting and clinic meetings.

Being affiliated with the University of Minnesota, College of Pharmacy, the resident will participate in Academic Days and Residency Seminars, select and complete a residency research project, and have teaching opportunities at the College of Pharmacy.

Typical Weekly Schedule (PDF)

Additional Learning Opportunities

Staffing: The resident will spend 2 weeks training at the Methodist outpatient discharge pharmacy and then will staff one weekday every 3 weeks. This is a unique setting in that the resident will also have exposure to hospice, compounding and same day infusion. 

Inpatient Pharmacy Services Rotation: The focus of this 1 to 2 week rotation is to give the resident exposure to various pharmacist roles in transitions of care. Options include emergency department, decentralized clinical and inpatient pharmacy, transitions of care and discharge planning. The goal of this rotation is to help the resident understand the integration of pharmacy services across the continuum of care. Opportunities for collaboration may exist with the inpatient pharmacy residents at Methodist Hospital.

Medical Resident Training Clinic: Ability to work with an MTM pharmacist in a resident training facility, teaching Family Medicine resident physicians. There are opportunities for formal education, through noon conference lectures and informal education through precepting in the clinic.

Site Coordinator

Jenifer Morgan, PharmD, BCACP, is a medication management pharmacist at Park Nicollet. She graduated with her PharmD from the University of Minnesota-College of Pharmacy in May 2010. After graduation, she completed a one-year residency at the Community-University Health Care Center, followed by a second year residency at Park Nicollet. She currently works at the Family Medicine and Internal Medicine clinics in St. Louis Park, where she started the practice, and serves as the primary preceptor for the residency program. She has been the primary preceptor since 2012. Jenifer enjoys working collaboratively with patients and other health care providers to help patients achieve goals of therapy and improve health outcomes and quality of life.

Preceptors

Paige Behrend, PharmD is a medication management pharmacist at Park Nicollet. She graduated with her PharmD from the University of Minnesota-College of Pharmacy in May 2020. After graduation, she completed a one-year residency at Park Nicollet. She currently works in the Family Medicine and Internal Medicine clinics at the Carlson (Minnetonka) and Wayzata clinics. She has been an APPE student preceptor since 2022 and began working with the residency program in 2024.  Paige enjoys building relationships with her patients and providers & working creatively to identify and resolve medication therapy problems. Her clinical areas of interest include diabetes, mental health, and geriatrics. 

Jenny Gau, PharmD, BCACP, graduated from Drake University College of Pharmacy in 2002.  She began her career in community pharmacy and joined Park Nicollet Health Systems in Minnesota in 2005.  Jenny has practiced in various settings including operating a clozapine program in a clinic pharmacy, overseeing an outpatient discharge pharmacy, and leading a team working in an underserved community.  Jenny has a strong understanding of how pharmacist interventions can improve medication use and health outcomes.  Implementing pharmacy services in the ambulatory environment is something she has always explored.  In 2016 she made a career transition to practice integrated medication management in primary care.   Jenny is currently the MTM Program Supervisor for Park Nicollet Clinics.

Alison Knutson, PharmD, BCACP, is a 2010 graduate of the University of Minnesota-College of Pharmacy. After graduation, she participated in the University of Minnesota Pharmaceutical Care Leadership Residency. Her first year of residency was spent at Smiley’s Clinic in Minneapolis. Now a medication management pharmacist at Park Nicollet Creekside Family Medicine Clinic, her clinic responsibilities include both teaching and patient care. As a family medicine residency training clinic, Dr. Knutson spends time with the medical residents to discuss complex issues in pharmacotherapy. She also provides medication management to complex patients within the clinic. Her goal is to optimize medication use through direct patient care and provider education in order to improve patient outcomes for all patients at Creekside and within Park Nicollet. Her specific practice interests include mental health, pain management, and transitions in care.