Like many hospitals across the U.S., Phoebe has been battling the increasing nursing shortage due to the pandemic and an aging population. To better serve its patients and help overcome the nursing shortage, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital piloted a virtual remote nurse model of care to support bedside nurses.
“With hospitals facing nursing shortages across the state and country, we thought this would be an innovative and valuable option to help not only our patients but our bedside teams. Since starting the virtual remote nursing program, we have seen a significant improvement in patient satisfaction with nurse communication and discharge education, which positively impacts quality and safety for everyone,” said Evelyn Olenick, Chief Nursing Officer, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital.
The virtual remote nursing team handles all the non-hands-on care and workflows, such as admission documentation, discharge education, medication reconciliation, chart reviews and audits. The virtual remote nurse is available in real-time to answer the patient’s questions, provide education and support. It allows the bedside team to respond to immediate physical patient needs and the virtual remote nurses can maintain the regular schedule of rounds and patient monitoring. Virtual remote nurses and bedside nurses work together to provide the highest level of care to patients.
“We began piloting the virtual remote nurse model of care in April on the observation unit and, because of the positive results, plan to implement this new model of care throughout other inpatient nursing units over the next year,” added Olenick.
A virtual remote nurse does not work with bedside nurses on all patients and patients can decline a virtual remote nurse. The virtual remote nurses have their own office in the hospital and communicate with patients through iPads located in their rooms.
Anyone interested in joining the Phoebe Family as a virtual remote nurse can go to careers.phoebehealth.com to view open positions.
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