The HCA Healthcare Center for Clinical Advancement is celebrating its one-year anniversary after it opened its doors in summer 2021. The center for clinical advancement is the only facility of its kind in the Greater Houston area, said Diane Henry, the vice president for clinical education at the HCA Center for Clinical Advancement.
“HCA corporate as well as the [Gulf Coast] Division have made a significant investment in clinical education and training and development as a whole,” Henry said.
Under clinical education, HCA Houston Healthcare has focused on training nurses and is expecting to stretch into other clinical areas, Henry said. The Pearland facility offers state-of-the-art equipment and connected classrooms for two populations: graduate nurses and incumbent staff.
Inside the facility there are various classrooms and simulation labs decked out with technology from multiple TV screens, computers and tablets as well as life-size, realistic human simulators—or dummies—and a replica of a hospital supply room.
“It’s supposed to create a hospital environment,” Henry said.
One program HCA Healthcare’s Gulf Coast Division hosts at the center for clinical advancement is its Specialty Training Apprenticeship for Registered Nurses Residency Program.
The program can last up to a year, depending on the department to which a person is hired, and it consists of three components: a classroom and lecture series; a simulation component; and a preceptor stage, which is when a new graduate is assigned to a preceptor, or mentor, and given shifts at the hospital they are hired at, Henry said.
Growing leaders
While the first floor of the facility is dedicated to hands-on and didactic training of nurses and medical personnel, the second floor offers a different focus: growing HCA Houston Healthcare’s employees as leaders.
“What HCA has noted is that in order to ensure that our nurses and front-line staff are truly taking care of our patients—and we are putting our patients’ health as the forefront—we need to ensure that we develop our leaders,” said Samantha Maxie, director of leadership and organizational development.
The Pearland location is simultaneously running six programs, which range from curriculum for clinical nurse coordinators to those for administration directors, she said.
“Our senior executive team has a major mindset or intentional focus on what we call human capital or developing our leaders,” Maxie said.
The HCA Healthcare Center for Clinical Advancement helps connect numerous employees with connecting classrooms, which allow anyone to participate in classes remotely, and also in the simulation labs, said Sarah Prial, the division director of simulation and technology.
“‘The sky’s the limit’ is what I tell our educators,” Prial said.
