VIRTUAL NURSING

Hunter Boyce

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Telehealthhas reachednew heightsinpopularity following a workforce-crippling pandemic That being said,notall health care heroes arebehind the concept ofvirtualnursing.

According to asurvey by NSINursing Solutions, registerednurse turnover stoodat roughly 27% in2022. Meanwhile, RN vacancy rates were at 17.1%. According to Medpage Today, allof those nursing vacancieshave hit the health care industry withagrowingknowledgegap Virtualnursingis partiallydesigned to close that gap.

New nursesare“scared to death” of makingamistake whenthey first come onto the floor, Wendy Deibert,MBA, BSN, seniorvice president ofclinical solutions forCaregility, told Medpage Today.

“They’re thrownintoa world...with notalotof experience behindthem,” she said.“So havingabuttononthe wall where you canpush...atamoment’s noticeand getanurseinthat room to assist (is ahuge help).

“I can zoomin to [see] exactlywhat they’re doingandgive directionandsupport, so thattheydon’t feellike they’re out there on alimb by themselves.Not onlydoes thatboosttheir confidence,but italso reallystopsthatturnover, because ifthey get too scaredand donot feelsupported, they’renot going to stay there.”

Steve Polega, BSN, RN, chiefnursing officerof Universityof Michigan HealthWest, however, believesutilizingvirtual nursingis alost cause.

“Asanurseof25 years, Ibelieve that nursingisa callingandagift,” he told Becker’s Hospital Review. “Itis a huge responsibility to betrusted by our patients and families to bethe eyes,ears and caringhandsatthebedside.Nursingisall about connectingwithpeople. To earn thattrust,I believe that youneed to be

Experts weighin on the joys and woes of telehealth

atthebedside. Nursing is aboutthatkind touch, thatsmile,those reassuringthings that we cando for patients and families.

“Itis very challenging to have that real human connectionthroughvirtual care. Ithink we alllose if thistrend continues. We havetooptimize our technologies to makeournurses moreefficientandeffective,butattheendoftheday, nurses put thehumanityinto care andneed to bepresent andatthebedside.”

It’s apoint thatperhapsneeds to beput to the test.

SaintLuke’s Health Systemof Kansas City tookadvantageof an opportunity to significantly implement virtualnursing in2019, before the pandemic. Thehospital constructeda 33 bednursingunit atoneofits four facilities, utilizinganew care modeland workflow.

“It wasimportantthatthemodelhad animpact forboththenursingstaff and the patient experience,”JenniferBall,RN, BSN,MBA,directorofvirtual care at Saint Luke’s Health System, toldtheAmerican NursesAssociation.“Welookedat what couldbe takenoff theplate ofthe bedside RNand completed by a nurseon camera inthe patient room. We included tasks suchasadmissiondatabase,discharge teaching,medication reconciliation, completingprocedure checklists, second nurse signoff formeds/skinchecks, generaleducation/teaching forthe patients, contacting families, answering questions, and thelist goes on.

“Whentheseitemsare completed by thevirtualRN, thatfreesupthetime ofthebedsideRN to have more time to manage physicalneedsof the patents, answer calllights sooner, and generally have more timewiththe patients.”

Theunitopenedin Feb. 2021andhas since experienced several workflow changes. According to Ball,theunit’s operationsinceitsopening hasallowed fora fewlessons.

“You canneverhavetoomucheducation,training and informationshared,” she said. “Staff have to be flexible, like change,andbewilling to trynewthings. Start your planning early, bewiling to adjustthings, and figure out your technology early on. Get everyoneinvolved from thebeginning: other disciplinesand staff thatwillbe interactingwiththenew care model.”