“Find out how virtual nursing has improved the healthcare system and understand the details on Virtual nursing the new reality in quality care for patients.”

In recent years, virtual nursing has shifted from a less common strategy to a vital part of healthcare, and, as weird as it may sound, we can thank the COVID-19 pandemic for that.

Virtual nursing emerged in the early days of telehealth (the use of digital technologies, such as phone calls, video conferences, and mobile apps, to provide healthcare remotely), which began in the 1970s. However, modern virtual nursing has evolved over the past decades, with new models like virtual patient sitters for hospitals, which involve direct patient observation to monitor patients with critical conditions and prevent falls and self-harm.

Beyond these functional changes, the virtual nursing field has advanced to a more strategic level, involving strong business cases, departmental cooperation, and the incorporation of AI to support nurses with administrative tasks and critical thinking.

In this article, I will run you through the details of how virtual nursing has evolved, how it has improved the quality of care, and the effect this model has had on patient satisfaction in terms of finances and health quality, as well as nurses’/staff satisfaction. Now, let’s get into the details.

What is Virtual Nursing

Virtual nursing is an advanced model of care that supersedes traditional care. Traditional nursing involves direct, one-on-one patient care in settings such as hospitals or clinics, while virtual nursing uses technology to support bedside nurses.

By handling tasks that can be managed remotely, like admissions and discharge of patients, patient education, and providing supervision to patients, thereby freeing up bedside nurses to focus on hands-on care

Traditional nursing focuses on physical presence for hands-on care, whereas virtual nursing offers flexibility and geographic freedom for nurses and can improve efficiency by handling tasks that don’t require physical contact. Note that Virtual nursing complements traditional care rather than replacing it. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals faced many challenges, including nurse shortage, which shone a light on the highly stressful work environment that bedside nurses had to endure while providing patient care each day.

In response to this challenge, virtual nursing emerged as an innovative solution to fill gaps in healthcare delivery, and since then, it has continued to grow as a nursing discipline. Now, let’s look at what virtual nurses do to relieve the stress on bedside nurses.

What Do Virtual Nurses Do?

With advanced telehealth technologies, such as AI diagnosis, Internet of Things (IoT) devices that connect to the internet to collect and exchange data without human intervention, and AR/VR for remote procedures and therapy, the virtual nurse can direct and monitor patient care.

These virtual nurses interact with the patient through 6 primary roles, which are:

• Patient Education
• Admission Processes
• Discharge Planning
• Patient Safety Surveillance
• Staff Mentoring and Support
• Physician Rounding

1. Patient Education: Virtual nurses provide patient education remotely by interacting with patients through TVs or via teleconferencing, which allows them to spend more time addressing patient and family questions, chronic illness education, and assisting with discharge preparations. 

This approach frees up bedside nurses to concentrate on direct patient care, improving efficiency and potentially increasing patient engagement.

2. Admission Processes: Virtual nurses ease the admission process by managing administrative duties and patient admission remotely, allowing bedside nurses to focus on immediate patient needs.

Using technology and virtual nursing platform, such as video carts/display adapters and electronic health records, virtual nurses can conduct assessments, complete paperwork, and provide necessary information, which is documented and communicated to the bedside team. This process increases efficiency, improves documentation accuracy, and can lead to shorter overall admission times compared to traditional, in-person methods.

3. Discharge Planning: Virtual nurses assist in discharge planning by using video and audio to connect with patients and their families, offering education, reviewing discharge instructions, and addressing questions, which can speed up the discharge process and improve patient knowledge.

4. Patient Safety Surveillance: Virtual nursing improves patient safety surveillance through remote observation and virtual patient sitters for hospitals, which eases ongoing surveillance and faster responses, thereby relieving the burden on bedside nurses and alleviating burnout. This approach improves patient outcomes by ensuring prompt interventions and adherence to evidence-based practices.

5. Staff Mentoring and Support: Virtual nursing provides mentoring and support to staff through remote, technology-driven interactions, with professional registered virtual nurses supporting less experienced bedside nurses in clinical decision-making, administrative responsibilities, and patient education.

This process uses two-way video and audio to connect with the bedside team, enabling experienced nurses to assist with tasks they may not be able to handle, thereby allowing bedside nurses to dedicate more time to direct patient care. This can also help reduce staff burnout, boost morale, and improve patient satisfaction.

6. Physician Rounding: This is the process where a healthcare team, led by a physician/doctor, visits hospitalized patients to review their condition, discuss further treatment plans, and update medical records. 

Virtual nurses work with these physicians by providing remote support through technology, which can include performing virtual patient assessments, relaying crucial patient information, and facilitating communication between the physician and patient or other staff. 

They also help with administrative tasks, like printing educational/test materials and completing documentation, which frees up on-site staff. 

From all this, it is evident that virtual nursing improves the quality of care by providing remote support that reduces the workload on bedside nurses, leading to better patient outcomes and safety.

Patients generally have a positive view of virtual nursing, seeing it as a tool that can improve the quality and safety of their care, especially when it’s well-integrated with in-person care.

Patient feedback highlights benefits such as better-coordinated education and support, leading to greater empowerment in their healthcare journey. However, some studies show that patient perceptions can vary depending on factors like the technology used and the specific clinical context. -Done

All of these approaches improve care coordination, enhance communication, and can reduce issues such as hospital readmissions, fall rates, and length of stay.

I would like to state that the virtual nursing model is more complex than remote patient monitoring; however, it supports higher-quality care.

To date, the need for skilled nurses has increased; the virtual nursing model enables virtual nurses to contribute to patient safety both in direct care and through staff mentoring and collaboration.

The convenience of telehealth, however, especially during health crises, means that many patients will request and prefer virtual visits.

Conclusion

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