St. Petersburg, FL — HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital today announced that its Emergency Room nursing team has earned a 2025 HCA Healthcare Unit of Distinction Honorable Mention, an annual recognition program celebrating exemplary nursing units across HCA Healthcare’s national network of more than 100,000 nurses.
This year’s recognition is especially meaningful as HCA Healthcare celebrates “A Decade of Distinction,” marking the 10th anniversary of the program. The Unit of Distinction Award honors top-performing nursing units for excellence in advocacy and leadership, consistency in nursing practice and operations and leveraging scale to improve patient care. Units receiving honorable mention rank among the top six to ten percent of nursing units across the organization.
“Nursing excellence is most visible at the bedside, where our nurses deliver compassionate, high-quality care to patients and their families every day,” said Erica Rossitto, senior vice president and chief nurse executive of HCA Healthcare. “The Unit of Distinction program recognizes the top-performing nursing units at HCA Healthcare that exemplify this commitment and set a strong standard for care across our organization.”
Launched in 2015, the Unit of Distinction Awards are a cornerstone of HCA Healthcare’s Nurse Forward strategy, grounded in four pillars: a care-first culture, clinical education, dynamic care teams and leadership and advocacy. Over the past decade, the program has recognized more than 652 units and more than 500 honorable mention recipients across the organization.
“This recognition reflects the unwavering dedication, clinical excellence and compassion our Emergency Room nurses bring to every patient, every day,” said Brent Burish, chief executive officer of HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital. “Our ER team works in one of the most fast-paced and critical care environments, and this honor is a testament to their commitment to delivering exceptional, patient-centered care to our community.”
HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital’s Emergency Room team is known for delivering timely, high-quality emergency care, focusing on patient safety, efficiency and positive patient outcomes. The team consistently demonstrates strong performance in key quality metrics, patient satisfaction and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Since its inception, the Unit of Distinction program has expanded from a single specialty to 10 areas of care, including behavioral health, critical care, emergency services, inpatient rehabilitation, medical-surgical, neonatal intensive care, pediatric services, surgical services and women’s services—reflecting the breadth and impact of nursing practice across HCA Healthcare.
This year, 193 nursing units across HCA Healthcare were recognized during a ceremony broadcast from the organization’s headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee on April 14, 2026. Of those, 16 units earned top honors, representing the highest-performing five percent of nursing units across HCA Healthcare. Units ranking in the top six to ten percent received honorable mention designations.