How we are honoring nurses and training future health professionals | Opinion
Since my first days as a medical-surgical nurse at an HCA Healthcare facility in Kentucky, more than 26 years ago, I have been a passionate advocate for nurses and advancing the nursing profession.
Now, as chief nurse executive for a 180-hospital system with 2,300 sites of care, I am honored to be responsible for recruiting, developing, nurturing and engaging with our 93,000-plus nurses to support them and facilitate continual quality improvement.
As the celebration of National Nurses Week (May 6-12) comes to a close, I can think of no better time to thank our dedicated nurses and reaffirm our commitment to them and our patients. Our nurses are the differentiator at HCA Healthcare. As nurses in hospitals across the country know all too well, the stakes have never been higher for our profession. The global nursing shortage and pandemic caused well documented strain on the healthcare system, and nurses bore the brunt of the stress that continues to be felt today.
HCA Healthcare’s response has been to open the pipeline in as many ways as possible, from partnering with local high schools to give hands on experience in nursing – like the Academies of Nashville program with Metro Nashville schools – to proactively recruiting a more diverse group of future nurses, to building out its primary education operations and hands on learning centers.
We are very proud of our record and the successes are the direct result of buy-in from our team members. Our nurses’ show up every day to deliver high-quality care to the patients we serve.
In today’s ever-changing quest to improve the quality outcomes of our patients and associates, it is my job to maintain and grow our commitment to nurses at every step of the way.
This includes piquing the interest of potential caregivers at a formative age such as the Academies program, providing top-level undergraduate and master’s level degree nursing programs, and continual professional growth through ongoing training and development opportunities.
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How we are helping train nurses
In the past four years, HCA Healthcare has invested more than $300 million to support the education and training of nurses.
Since purchasing Galen College of Nursing, one of the largest educators of nurses in the U.S., in 2020, we have committed approximately $200 million towards expanding the college.
In addition, we have expanded our training footprint through the addition of new HCA Healthcare Centers for Clinical Advancement. Since 2019, we have invested approximately $46 million to open twelve new centers and recently committed an additional $90 million to open twenty more locations over the next three years. These centers, one of which is located here in Antioch, are designed to bridge the gap between the classroom and the bedside, and give nurses valuable opportunities to advance their skills and careers.
We have expanded our care teams, including licensed practical/vocational nurses, paramedics and nurse externs, and provide tuition assistance benefits – some with zero out of pocket fees –to support scholarships to Galen College of Nursing and other accredited collegiate level programs.
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Scholarship assistance is benefiting students at HBCUs
Currently, more than 2,900 HCA Healthcare colleagues are enrolled at Galen and HCA Healthcare has distributed approximately $7.7 million to assist colleagues in its Nursing RN-to-BSN program. A prime emphasis has been to provide scholarship assistance targeted to Historically Black Colleges and Universities including Fisk and Tennessee State Universities here as well as Hispanic Serving Institutions across the nation.
The pandemic aside, there will always be changes and challenges to the health care delivery system, and HCA Healthcare is committed to be a leader in finding and providing the right mix of excellent care with compassionate touch. I want to thank all of our nurses for sharing their skills, talents, and constantly demonstrating the HCA Healthcare Mission “Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life.”
Dr. Sammie Mosier is senior vice president and chief nurse executive of HCA Healthcare, and was recognized last year by Modern Healthcare as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Healthcare.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How HCA is honoring nurses and training future health professionals
