Hiring now underway for new Tysons emergency room, opening this spring

The emergency room that Reston Hospital Center is building in Tysons isn’t expected to open for another three months, but efforts to staff the new facility are already underway.

HCA Healthcare Inc., the Nashville-based company that owns Reston Hospital, currently has 26 positions listed in its job database for the Tysons ER, a standalone facility that will be located at 8240 Leesburg Pike between Tysons Corner Center and the Route 123 interchange.

The project has encountered some construction challenges due to pandemic-related supply shortages, but it is currently on target for an April launch, according to HCA Healthcare spokesperson Suzanne Kelly.

With almost a quarter of U.S. hospitals reporting staffing shortages earlier this month amid surging Covid cases, HCA told Tysons Reporter’s sister site Reston Now that its most critical vacancies are the job openings for the Tysons emergency room, particularly when it comes to nurses and imaging professionals.

“Like healthcare organizations nationwide, Reston Hospital Center is working to address a tight labor market, which coincides with nursing workforce shortages compounded by the pandemic,” Kelly said in a statement. “As part of the HCA Virginia Health System, our facilities are working to retain our existing colleagues, attract new nurses, and encouraging and supporting those considering a career in nursing through education programs.”

Set to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the 14,000 square-foot Tysons emergency department will have 11 private treatment rooms, including a trauma room and 10 exam rooms, and provide the same services as at a hospital-based emergency room.

In addition to registered nurses, the facility is seeking a clinical coordinator, radiologic and ultrasound technologists, a director of emergency services, and maintenance workers.

To address immediate staffing needs, HCA is offering a $20,000 sign-on bonus to registered nurses with at least one year of experience, including for positions in the Tysons ER, according to its job postings.

The healthcare system said in a statement that it’s also recruiting nurses from other states and even internationally to work in Virginia, adjusting pay, and implementing “incentive and recognition programs,” among other “aggressive recruitment efforts”:

To support immediate staffing shortages, we’re offering sign on bonuses and employee referral bonuses.  Additionally, we are also recruiting nurses from other states and even other countries to come to Virginia to support our nurses and help ensure we are providing top quality care to our patients during this unprecedented time. We are attracting new nurses to work at our facilities through aggressive recruitment efforts including sign-on bonuses and referral bonuses in strategic areas and specialties. We also continue to partner with bricks-and-mortar colleges and universities, and online programs, to attract more people to choose careers in healthcare. This will build a future pipeline to fill long-term healthcare staffing needs.

As reported by Reston Now this morning, HCA is now requiring employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine after the Supreme Court allowed a federal mandate issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to take effect last Thursday (Jan. 13).

While most D.C. area hospitals were already requiring their staff to get vaccinated, HCA put its requirement on hold in November after a federal judge blocked the CMS mandate.

Reston Hospital says it will comply with the mandate so it can keep serving Medicare and Medicaid patients.

“Any HCA Healthcare colleague who works in, or has work-related reasons to visit, these facilities or care settings is required to have their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by January 27 and be fully vaccinated by February 28, unless they receive a medical or religious exemption,” Kelly said by email.