Providers See Virtual Nursing as Potential Recruitment Opportunity

As virtual nursing efforts spread across health systems, a new survey shows that 75 percent of healthcare professionals view virtual nursing as a recruitment opportunity to hire nurses who cannot or will not work at the bedside.

Conducted by Joslin Insight on behalf of virtual care platform provider AvaSure, the Virtual Nursing Insight Survey polled 789 healthcare professionals working primarily in acute care settings. The survey was fielded between April 10 and 18. Of the survey respondents, 46 percent were nurse leaders or decision-makers.

Most survey respondents (66 percent) believe virtual nursing will become integral to acute care delivery models. About 59 percent cited patient discharge as a top use case for virtual nursing, followed by admissions (53 percent), patient education (51 percent), and expert clinical oversight (35 percent).

Other use cases for virtual nursing in acute inpatient settings include rounding (24 percent), post-discharge (20 percent), and mentoring/precepting (20 percent), according to survey respondents.

Further, most respondents (75 percent) noted that a potential benefit to virtual nursing is the opportunity to recruit nurses who are either unable or unwilling to work at the bedside.

The survey shows that 38 percent of respondents said their organization has already implemented virtual nursing or is in the process of doing so, and another 26 percent said their organization is considering implementing the services.

To measure the success of virtual nursing programs, respondents cited three key metrics: improving nurse satisfaction and retention (86 percent), improving workload burden for current staff (82 percent), and improving patient experience (81 percent).

However, 14 percent of respondents stated that their organization had not implemented or considered implementing virtual nursing due to a lack of confidence in return on investment (ROI). Additionally, 13 percent said their organization had not implemented or considered implementing virtual nursing because of budget constraints.

The survey results come on the heels of numerous healthcare organizations announcing virtual nursing efforts.

Last week, Livonia, Michigan-based Trinity Health launched TogetherTeam Virtual Connected Care, a care delivery model involving a direct care registered nurse (RN), an on-site nursing assistant or licensed practical nurse (LPN), and a remote RN who supports patient care virtually.

The virtual nurses can access EMRs and perform patient examinations using camera technology. They can also help provide mentorship to less experienced bedside nurses.

"Nursing resources are scarce and will only get worse. We needed to act swiftly. The workforce shortage has crippled the traditional model of hospital nursing, which is no longer optimal in some environments," said Gay Landstrom, PhD, RN, Trinity Health's chief nursing officer, in the press release.

The health system plans to roll out the model in 38 nursing units across hospitals in eight states by the end of September.

Similarly, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and Jefferson Health in Philadelphia launched virtual nursing programs last month.  

Vanderbilt is piloting the program in its 36-bed Ventricular Assist Device and Transplant Unit. Virtual nursing support is available 24 hours a day, and the nurses focus on admission and discharge documentation duties.

Meanwhile, Jefferson Health's virtual nursing program connects bedside nurses to remote nurses to advance personalized care. The virtual nurses conduct patient check-ins and rounding and support other care tasks, including admission and discharge paperwork, patient and family education, and EHR documentation.

The rising interest in virtual nursing is likely tied to nurse shortages, which have become a pressing problem in healthcare.

According to a 2022 survey by the American Nurses Foundation and Joslin Insight, 52 percent of the 12,694 nurses surveyed said they intended to leave or are considering leaving their position. Their top reasons for leaving were insufficient staffing and work negatively affecting health and well-being.

Further, of the nurses who indicated a nurse shortage at their organization, 54 percent said it was a serious problem, and 40 percent said it was a moderate problem.