HCA Houston Healthcare’s gift sparks new nursing opportunities

At HCA Healthcare, investing in nurses and the people they care for is paramount to what we do and who we are.  There is no one closer to the patient than our nurses – all 94,000 of them. Recognizing the positive impact that nurses have on the lives of others, we have invested in a new partnership with the University of Houston’s (UH) College of Nursing.

As we continue to celebrate cap-and-gown season, HCA Houston Healthcare presented an early graduation gift of $3.5 million dollars to benefit the faculty, staff and students in the University’s nursing program.

HCA Houston Healthcare gifted a transformative $3.5 million donation to the University of Houston (UH) College of Nursing. Pictured (left) Kathryn Tart, UH College of Nursing dean, (right) Kelli Nations, HCA Houston Healthcare chief nursing executive

“HCA Healthcare has long recognized the importance of nursing in accomplishing our goal to create healthier tomorrows for every patient we serve,” said Chief Nurse Executive Jane Englebright, PhD. “We’re excited about this opportunity to strengthen nursing education and positively impact more lives in Houston and across the nation.”

Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive Jane Englebright rounds with a pair of HCA Healthcare affiliate nurses.

The donation will fund three areas at the University’s future location in Katy, Texas and its current home in Sugar Land, Texas, including:

• $2 million for the HCA Houston Healthcare Nursing Faculty Endowment to support the increased number of adjunct or full-time faculty members at HCA Healthcare-affiliated facilities.

• $1 million for the HCA Houston Healthcare Simulation Center opening at UH at Katy to provide hands-on, real-world clinical training and research using interactive modules. The center will be used to support the educational needs of nursing and healthcare professionals.

• $500,000 earmarked for the HCA Houston Healthcare Endowed Professorship in Undergraduate Studies to fund the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Director and to expand BSN instruction and research.

Rendering of UH at Katy nursing simulation center (Courtesy SmithGroup)

Career destination for the next-gen of caregivers

HCA Houston Healthcare and UH also have partnered to bring an additional 103 first-year resident positions as early as this year, pending federal accreditation of the school’s College of Medicine. This collaboration will potentially unlock new opportunities for a total of 389 resident positions by 2025, complementing HCA Healthcare’s Graduate Medical Education (GME) programs and better preparing our nation’s young doctors.

“We are honored to support and be an integral part of UH’s academic trajectory in healthcare,” said Troy Villarreal, HCA Houston Healthcare CEO. “We view this as a long-term partnership to develop the most qualified healthcare professionals and provide access to the best care possible.”

Troy Villarreal, HCA Houston Healthcare CEO

 Top-tier nurses

The UH College of Nursing is listed in the top 5% of the nation’s colleges of nursing based on three consecutive years of 100% first-time pass rates for students taking the national licensure exam. Students taking the Family Nurse Practitioner national certification exam also have earned 100 percent first-time pass rates for the last four years.

“This is an easy partnership for us,” Kelli Nations, chief nursing executive at HCA Houston Healthcare, told Fox 26 Houston.  “The University of Houston graduates such fantastic nursing students that we would love for them to be able to expand their nursing classes.”

And when University of Houston nursing students join HCA Healthcare, Nations said you can spot them a mile away. “They are top-tiered, very professional, very intelligent and very well prepared to care for our patients,” she said.

The gift that keeps on giving

As part of HCA Healthcare’s $300 million company-wide commitment to workforce development – tuition reimbursement, student loan debt assistance, expanded certification offerings – HCA Houston Healthcare initiated a program that pays the tuition for its eligible nurses to pursue advanced degrees at the University of Houston College of Nursing.

As one of the largest employers of nurses in the country, HCA Healthcare, which has existing partnerships with Research College of Nursing in Kansas City and Mercy School of Nursing in Miami, continued its focus on nurses and nursing excellence earlier this spring by gaining majority ownership of Galen College of Nursing.

“These critical academic partnerships provide a source of excellent nursing talent and opportunities for our HCA Healthcare colleagues to further their professional development,” said Dr. Englebright.

As for HCA Houston Healthcare’s gift to the University of Houston College of Nursing?

“We’re proud to take a leadership role in developing the next generation of nursing professionals as we continue our mission of working to improve more lives in more ways,” Nations said proudly.

The University of Houston at Katy is slated to open Fall 2019 (Tellepsen).

For more information about career opportunities in nursing at HCA Healthcare, visit here.

HCA Healthcare is one of the largest employers of nurses in the country, with 94,000 registered nurses holding positions from bedside caregivers in a variety of healthcare settings to leadership positions throughout the organization. HCA Healthcare is a learning healthcare system that uses its more than 31 million annual patient encounters to improve patient care and save lives.