HCA Healthcare has expanded its nurse pipeline with a new campus located in its headquarter city of Nashville, Tennessee.
The move, announced on Wednesday, marks the third new campus the Galen College of Nursing has opened since being acquired by HCA in January 2020.
Other campuses are in Miami and Austin. Galen now has a total of eight campuses, with existing ones in Louisville and Hazard, Kentucky, San Antonio, Texas, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
"We are thrilled to bring our 30 years of experience exclusively educating nurses to the community and look forward to providing new opportunities to those called to nursing in the Nashville area," said Mark Vogt, CEO for Galen in a released statement. "At Galen, we are uniquely positioned to help expand the pipeline of qualified nurses in Nashville and committed to supporting quality healthcare delivery across the country."
Galen's expansion comes at a time when the demand for nurses is at all-time high as hospitals throughout the country experience shortages of healthcare professionals to handle the recent surge of new COVID-19 cases.
The Nashville campus will offer a three-year bachelor of science degree in nursing, an associate degree in nursing, and a "bridge" program for licensed practical nurses to study to earn an associate nursing degree. Other programs include an online master of science in nursing degree, as well as a 12-month program for current registered nurses to earn a bachelor of science degree in nursing.
The first term for all three programs is scheduled to begin next January.