Virtual nursing has continued to expand since bursting onto the scene a few years ago. But has the care model lived up to its promise?
Health system leaders told Becker’s that virtual nursing still has room to grow but has had positive benefits for the industry thus far.
“While virtual nursing has proven effective at boosting patient outcomes and satisfaction, its broader adoption faces significant barriers: high implementation costs, complex regulatory policies and the challenge of integrating new hospital workflows,” said Zafar Chaudry, MD, senior vice president and chief digital, AI and information officer of Seattle Children’s.
Virtual nursing has been touted as a way to free bedside nurses from administrative tasks such as admissions and discharges, giving them more time for patient care, while also relieving healthcare staffing shortages.
“Adoption, both within and beyond our organization, has moved more methodically than the urgency of the workforce crisis might warrant,” said Pidge Lohr, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer of Oklahoma City-based Integris Health. “But that pace has allowed us to be thoughtful and precise in our implementation.”
Through “deliberate piloting” and engagement with frontline nurses, Integris Health has refined the model and built trust across departments that will ensure virtual nursing’s sustainability, she said. The health system now plans to grow the care model from two to all 16 of its hospitals over the next two years.
“At Integris Health, virtual nursing has proven to be more than a promising innovation — it’s becoming a foundational element of how we deliver care,” Dr. Lohr said. “We have seen improvement in length of stay, discharges earlier in the day, enhanced scores in nursing communication and communication about medications, and higher nursing engagement scores.”
Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health has continued to broaden its virtual nursing program, which is already one of the biggest in the country, encompassing 92 units in 28 hospitals across 11 states. Leaders at the 93-hospital system are fully bought into the program, dubbed TogetherTeam Virtual Connected Care™, in which a bedside nurse and nursing aide work in tandem with a virtual nurse.
“The model is proving valuable in retaining seasoned nurses, many of whom were considering retirement or career changes,” said Gay Landstrom, PhD, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing officer of Trinity Health. “In turn, these nurses are mentoring newer nurses at the bedside, allowing them to build skills, confidence and, overall, a more resilient workforce.”
Patients and families report that TogetherTeam Virtual Connected Care makes them feel more connected to their providers, added Murielle Beene, DNP, RN, chief health informatics officer of Trinity Health. “We continue to proactively seek input from voices across our healthcare system as our nurse-led model continues to evolve and expand,” she said.
Renton, Wash.-based Providence, another large player in the world of virtual nursing, is also committed to the care model.
“We are seeing improvements in patient safety metrics such as reductions in falls and hospital-acquired infections,” said Syl Trepanier, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer of Providence. “We are also seeing reductions in RN and CNA turnover, which was one of the primary objectives of this new care model. This indicates enhanced job satisfaction.”
As with any healthcare transformation, “change management does take time,” he acknowledged. But the 51-hospital system continues to expand virtual nursing, with the ultimate goal of extending the care offering to all med-surg units within Providence.
For virtual nursing to reach its full potential, it must become a “spoke” in a larger virtual care “hub” at health systems, said Geeta Nastasi, DNP, RN, vice president and chief nursing information officer of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health.
“The true power of virtual nursing hasn’t been fully tapped,” she said. “While adoption has accelerated, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, it hasn’t been as ubiquitous as some predicted. The ‘hype’ is valid, but there are still looming challenges that need to be surmounted to unleash its transformative power in healthcare delivery.”
Those obstacles include financial challenges facing the industry as a whole, exacerbated by looming healthcare funding cuts, and the lack of interoperability among IT systems, she said. Still, she expects virtual nursing to become widespread and be seen as just another part of healthcare within five years.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Dr. Nastasi said. “With the recursive loop of innovation, things are going to happen very quickly. When we add AI into the mix and we add ambient, I think that’s going to be a game-changer for virtual nursing in its current form.”
