Study finds mixed reviews of virtual nursing programs among bedside nurses

Hospitals struggling to draw and retain sufficient registered nurses on the bedside are implementing different methods to make sure sufferers get wanted nursing care. This consists of virtual nursing programs, a mannequin of care wherein nurses use video and messaging applied sciences to evaluate, monitor, educate, and coordinate take care of hospitalized sufferers from an off-site location.

A brand new research from the Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR)-published in JAMA Network Open today-surveyed 880 in-hospital nurses about their experiences working alongside virtual nurses to take care of hospitalized sufferers.

In one of the most important research to-date on virtual nursing care, Penn Nursing researchers discovered the implementation of virtual nursing programs in hospital care has been obtained with mixed reviews.

More than half (57%) of in-hospital nurses say virtual nursing programs don’t scale back their workload, and 10% say it has worsened their workload. The majority (53%) of in-hospital nurses report that working with virtual nurses improves affected person care high quality, however among them a fraction (11%) say the advance in high quality is substantial.

Virtual nursing programs have been heralded as an progressive silver bullet to hospitals’ nurse staffing challenges, however our findings present that almost all bedside nurses are usually not experiencing main advantages. Hospitals must be cautious about implementing virtual nursing programs. There is not any proof that virtual nurses are a secure substitute for in-person nursing.”

Okay. Jane Muir, PhD, MSHP, RN, FNP-BC, Lead Author, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Department of Family and Community Health, and CHOPR college

The research authors emphasize that whereas virtual nursing programs might maintain promise for particular duties, comparable to affected person monitoring or documentation, the success of the programs possible rely upon having enough in-person nurse staffing and well-defined implementation requirements.

“The knowledge is mixed as as to if virtual nursing programs supply aid to in-hospital nurses and improve the standard of affected person care, which suggests hospitals ought to proceed cautiously within the absence of sturdy proof about whether or not and beneath which situations virtual nursing programs are secure and efficient,” stated co-author Karen B. Lasater, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Jessie M. Scott Term Chair in Nursing and Health Policy, Associate Professor within the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences, and CHOPR Associate Director

“While there may be mixed proof concerning the worth of virtual nursing programs, there may be sturdy proof that staffing extra nurses on the bedside is linked to higher outcomes for sufferers and nurses alike.”

The research was led by researchers on the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research. Funding for the research was from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, the National Institute of Nursing Research/NIH, and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.