Nursing at HCA Healthcare
Supporting HCA Healthcare nurses and future nurses
At the forefront of delivering high-quality care are HCA Healthcare’s more than 99,000 nurses as well as the future generation of nurses. In 2024, we reinforced our ongoing commitment to supporting HCA Healthcare nurses by revamping our nursing strategy, Nurse Forward, and proactively leveraging technology and resources across our expansive network to offer nurses with the skills and hands-on educational opportunities to provide the best patient care.
Koko Tiatia, RN, Lone Peak Hospital
Enhancing the clinical education of our care teams
In 2024, we saw significant progress in advancing the clinical expertise of HCA Healthcare’s care teams. With a strategic focus on skill-building and hands-on learning opportunities, we deepened our commitment to the continuous professional development of nursing staff through targeted educational experiences.
Two primary goals were set. The first goal was to optimize the clinical education model to increase support to clinicians by centralizing resources for education development, delivery and support. The second goal was to implement a competency-based model in collaboration with Galen College of Nursing, offering a stronger foundation for students as they transition to practice.
Increasing clinical educational opportunities through academic partnerships
HCA Healthcare has three nursing schools – Galen College of Nursing, Research College of Nursing and Mercy School of Nursing.
Galen College of Nursing now has 22 campuses, having opened two in 2024 in Aurora (Denver), Colorado and Las Vegas, Nevada supported by HCA Healthcare investment. Since joining HCA Healthcare in 2020, Galen has opened 17 campuses.
HCA Healthcare offers tuition assistance benefits that allow eligible colleagues to complete Galen College of Nursing’s online RN to BSN program with zero out-of-pocket tuition expenses. In 2024, Galen College of Nursing launched a Doctor of Nursing Practice program with two options in Executive Leadership and Academic Leadership, to help prepare graduates for the highest levels of leadership and practice in healthcare and academic settings.
With more than 17,600 students enrolled across the country, over 4,700 of them are HCA Healthcare colleagues. In 2024, HCA Healthcare distributed $35 million to assist more than 11,500 colleagues pursue a nursing degree.
Clinical
education key accomplishments
Onboarded more than 12,000 new graduate nurses
Launched cutting-edge virtual reality training tools and connected classroom integrations, expanding interactive and immersive learning opportunities.
Leveraged advanced technology to further enhance education and skill development initiatives.
Centralized student placement and introduced an interactive knowledge and clinical judgment platform, offering students a modern, engaging approach to learning.
Standardized curricula for new graduate nurses, nurses new to specialty areas and patient care technicians – ensuring consistent and effective training across all teams.
Joyce Arthur, Clinical Nurse Coordinator, Ellie Roemmich, RN, St. Mark’s Hospital
Supporting new graduates’ transition to
the nursing profession
To help graduate nurses launch their career to become great nurses, HCA Healthcare proactively invests in programs and resources. The HCA Healthcare Nurse Residency program, a 12-month transition to practice program delivered in two phases, helps new graduate nurses gain confidence and competence as they advance into their role as professional nurses. Facility education and nursing leaders meet weekly to ensure all Nurse Residency RNs are on track and receive additional support where needed.
We have implemented Clinical Support Coordinators to further support first-year RNs after completing Nurse Residency. These full-time, experienced RNs play a crucial role in checking in on newer nurses, helping them assess patient assignments, answering questions about medications and diagnoses, and more. Additionally, we have doubled the size of our Clinical Support Coordinator resource pool and developed new tools and resources to aid them in providing even better support to nurses. This initiative underscores our commitment to ensuring that nurse residency RNs receive the guidance and assistance they need to thrive in their roles.
Celebrating nurse excellence
The Unit of Distinction Awards provide an opportunity to recognize and award care teams with the highest honors at HCA Healthcare. The Unit of Distinction award celebrates high performing nursing teams across the enterprise. On April 16, 2024, 96 nursing units across the enterprise were celebrated as winners for the 2023 program for their incredible dedication and outstanding performance.
Introducing the Revive mobile application
HCA Healthcare’s Coding for Caregivers hackathon brings together our best technology minds to develop technical solutions with clinician input. During the 2022 event, teams developed an iPad application called Revive that digitally captures and transmits Code Blue events to the patient’s electronic health record (EHR).
A Code Blue is fast-paced, and nurses often find themselves documenting the information on paper. After an event, the nurse has to take the paper and manually input the details into the EHR. This creates inefficiencies for the nursing staff. Nurses asked for an interactive, electronic way to capture the patient’s details.
To better support our care teams in this process, the Revive app was piloted at two HCA Healthcare hospitals in 2023 and began rolling out across the enterprise in 2024. Clinicians can now find iPads with the Revive app tethered to crash carts, helping ensure quick access when needed most. Revive then allows clinicians to more easily and efficiently document information like the exact time a pulse check or defibrillation occurred, the number of defibrillations and joules used, and the dose and method of medication given. After the code, this information is reviewed and submitted directly to the EHR, decreasing the amount of time it takes for the patient’s record to be updated while also increasing the consistency of submitted documentation.