In an era of healthcare workforce shortages, the virtual nurses have done almost 11,000 tasks, including about 3,200 discharges, 2,200 admissions and 4,700 roundings, and monitored patients for 63,000 hours.
“When you think about all the documentation and communication that nurses have to do while they’re not taking care of patients, the virtual nurse can do a lot of that and free the bedside nurse up to do treatments and education and medication administration,” Akron Children’s Chief Nursing Officer Chris Young, DNP, RN, told Becker’s.
Akron Children’s piloted the technology from virtual nursing company Care.ai on one unit from December 2023 to June 2024. Early results included increased patient and nurse satisfaction, decreased throughput time, and virtual identification of safety risks. The hospital then launched the technology in another four units, spanning 125 beds across general pediatrics, acute care and hematology/oncology.
“We were able to demonstrate that there is at least a break-even, if not a positive ROI, from the hours that were being saved,” Dr. Young said. “We were able to offer people less incidental overtime from when they were staying after their shift to document and get all their charting done. So there’s a cost savings that is not replacing the nurse; it’s just letting the nurse go home when he or she is supposed to go home.”
The hospital has a virtual nursing command center on site, staffing nurses who also work in the units. Akron Children’s nurses also helped design the program in cooperation with IT. The cameras and hardware are permanently installed in the rooms.
“It’s not about layering technology to reduce nurses in the direct care environment,” Dr. Young said. “So far, we’ve seen good success and good engagement.”
While virtual nursing is common in adult hospitals, it is newer to the pediatric realm. Unique concerns include having cameras that can see inside cribs and through crib rails or that can identify who’s a patient and who’s a family member.
Akron Children’s also launched a virtual companion program in January for patients who need to be accompanied 24/7. Expansion plans include AI and ambient listening capabilities and opening up the virtual nursing to more units, including critical care, ICUs and burn units, where the care model may need to be adjusted.
The vast majority of families have opted for virtual nursing after being given the option, Dr. Young said.
“It’s helpful when a parent has to step away when they want to go to lunch, they want to take a walk, they need a break,” she said. “They feel more confident leaving when they know the virtual nurse is able to watch their child more closely.”