Geisinger’s Plan to Boost Quality and Patient Experience Through Virtual Nursing
By G Hatfield
CNOs everywhere are talking about virtual nursing. Health systems across the country are utilizing their nurses and technology departments to create new programs that have the potential to revolutionize the industry.
Virtual nursing provides new opportunities for nurses to have more flexibility, and for hospitals to use their staff more efficiently. A single nurse can now observe more patients at once, and watch for signs of patient discomfort or distress. Tenured nurses can stay employed longer, without having to worry about working long shifts, and they can support new nurses virtually.
Additionally, many CNOs predict that virtual nursing will help fill the gaps from the nursing shortage, and many health systems have already seen positive results from their programs.
Janet Tomcavage, executive vice president and chief nurse executive at Geisinger, outlined what Geisinger wants to accomplish with their virtual nursing model. Tomcavage is a part of the HealthLeaders Virtual Nursing Mastermind panel, where several health systems will discuss the ins and outs of their virtual nursing programs and what their goals are for implementing these new technologies.
Geisinger’s goals
Geisinger is one of many health systems to embark on the virtual nursing journey, and according to Tomcavage, they are most excited to be fully leveraging technology for the first time as a way to support care. There are several goals that Geisinger has already begun to accomplish with their virtual nursing program.
“We think of it in terms of really opening up the workforce by creating… a new role for nurses to consider, especially later in their career,” Tomcavage said, “those who maybe have left, now have options to come back.”
The next area of focus at Geisinger is on care quality. According to Tomcavage, the acuity of patients in the hospital is much higher than it has been in the past, due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors. That along with lower tenure of the nursing staff has created several challenges.
“I think the virtual model can really help us enhance quality and things like fall prevention, hospital acquired pressure injuries…mentoring new graduate nurses…[and] patient education” Tomcavage said.
Another key goal is employee engagement, and how virtual nursing can help their nurses directly. Tomcavage explained how the response to the virtual nursing program has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Once [the nurses] really got a handle on what virtual nursing could do, they’ve been extremely positive about it,” Tomcavage said.
“The virtual model gives patients that one-on-one time with nurses that’s uninterrupted,” Tomcavage said, “and you can get through an assessment and not miss anything.”
G Hatfield is the nursing editor for HealthLeaders.