Virtual nursing programs in hospitals fall short of expectations
Hospitals struggling to attract and retain enough registered nurses at the bedside are implementing alternative strategies to ensure patients get needed nursing care.
In one of the largest studies to-date on virtual nursing care, Penn Nursing researchers found the implementation of virtual nursing programs in hospital care has been received with mixed reviews. This includes virtual nursing programs, a model of care in which nurses use video and messaging technologies to assess, monitor, educate, and coordinate care for hospitalized patients from an off-site location.
More than half of in-hospital nurses say virtual nursing programs do not reduce their workload, and 10% say it has worsened their workload. The majority of in-hospital nurses report that working with virtual nurses improves quality of patient care, but among them a fraction say the improvement in quality is substantial.
“Virtual nursing programs have been heralded as an innovative silver bullet to hospitals’ nurse staffing challenges, but our findings show that most bedside nurses are not experiencing major benefits,” says lead author K. Jane Muir, assistant professor of nursing in the Department of Family and Community Health, and CHOPR faculty. “Hospitals should be cautious about implementing virtual nursing programs. There is no evidence that virtual nurses are a safe substitute for in-person nursing.”
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