Happy National Nurses Week to the heart of HCA Healthcare

Dear Nurses,

May 6–12 marks National Nurses Week 2024, a time when we celebrate nurses everywhere who offer critical expertise and compassion across all healthcare settings.

At HCA Healthcare, more than 99,000 nurses are foundational to all we do and key to delivering on our commitment to provide the best possible care for patients. We say it often, but it bears repeating: Nursing is the differentiator for HCA Healthcare. You are leading the way for healthcare excellence and innovation, whether in our hospitals, virtually or at one of our more than 2,400 other sites of care.

Thank you for everything you do all year long to care for our patients and communities!

The last few years have been challenging for the nursing profession at large. Today, at HCA Healthcare, our nursing workforce is back stronger than ever before – in fact, we have more nurses today than we did pre-pandemic. In 2023, we recruited more than 116,500 colleagues, including 37,500 bedside nurses. We also made significant progress with employee retention and reduced turnover through training, issue resolution and targeted investments intended to help colleagues do their best work. This workforce stability is pivotal for many exciting things to come, from expanded clinical education opportunities to best practice sharing to new innovations designed to make your jobs better.

We’re grateful for nurses every day. This National Nurses Week, we’d like to share a few reasons why and highlight how you lead the way at HCA Healthcare.

Dedication to patients

First, we want to thank you for your unwavering dedication to our patients. In 2023, HCA Healthcare was responsible for more than 43 million patient encounters – made possible by the hard work, deep expertise, kind hearts and positive attitudes you bring to work every day. While it’s exciting to honor our Units of Distinction each year, we know that all of our care teams work tirelessly to care for patients, from nurse leaders to bedside nurses to virtual nurses.

Care-first culture

Thank you for fostering our care-first culture. You support each other and work together to meet any challenge. You also help to ensure everyone’s voice is heard, and please know we value your feedback. The voice of the nurse is a critical component of our ability to provide the best possible care for patients, and it’s something we believe sets nursing apart at HCA Healthcare. It’s why we have nurse leader representation at all levels of the organization, and resource councils that give nurses a direct voice in capital investment allocation. It’s also how we’re able to best support you, for example through the development of our new clinical nurse coordinator (CNC) tool designed with your direct feedback to help unit leaders better manage your teams’ work and well-being.

Commitment to growth

We also want to recognize your commitment to growth. Our team is bringing you more resources to build capacity and competency, and your response has been inspiring. Last year, we announced more than $300 million in investments to support the education and training of nurses through new HCA Healthcare Centers for Clinical Advancement and the expansion of Galen College of Nursing. Also in 2023, more than 5,000 HCA Healthcare colleagues were enrolled in Galen programs, and we distributed approximately $10 million to assist colleagues in our Nursing RN-to-BSN program.

Our educators and resource nurses are doing incredible work onboarding and supporting new nurses, and the new Centers for Clinical Advancement will give more of you access to simulation training to help bridge the gap between classroom and bedside. Our experienced nurses continue to grow your careers with advanced certifications and leadership training.

Empowered Leadership

Lastly, we want to thank you for your leadership. No matter what your role as a nurse, we believe that all of you, as the heart of our organization, are leading the way forward. We believe in your power and potential, and your ability and authority to make change. You advocate for patients and support your teams’ growth and well-being in truly inspiring ways.

We’re proud of how many of our leaders started as staff nurses and grew into the accomplished leaders they are today. We’re proud of how many of our chief nursing officers were promoted from within, in almost every case last year! And we’re proud of all nurses who lead every day, mentoring new care team members, collaborating with caregivers across the organization and taking charge of patient care in ways that only you can.

As you know, a healthcare system is only as good as its care teams, and you help make ours are the very best. Our promise is to always put you at the forefront of care, to listen to you, to invest in your careers and do whatever we can to support you. Thanks to you, we continue to push patient care forward, and we appreciate everything you do for your patients, your colleagues and your communities!

Sincerely,

Sammie Mosier, DHA, MA, BSN, NE-BC
Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive 
HCA Healthcare

Erica Rossitto, MBA/HCM, BSN, RN, NEA-BC
Senior Vice President, Assistant Chief Nurse Executive and Chief Nurse Executive, Atlantic Group
HCA Healthcare

Kelli Nations, DBA, MHA, BSN, RN, NE-BC
Vice President and American Group Chief Nurse Executive
HCA Healthcare

Natalie L. Ransom, DNP, RN, CENP, NEA-BC
Vice President and National Group Chief Nurse Executive
HCA Healthcare