Sentara Health’s virtual nurses buttress nighttime staffing

To improve training and mentoring for nightshift nurses, Sentara Health hired virtual nurses with more than five years of experience in a variety of roles, says Amber Price, DNP, RN, senior vice president and enterprise CNO. Virtual nurses support nightshift nurses at the Norfolk, Va.,-based health system from a central location. They complete rounding on certain units to prevent floor nurses from waking up patients by opening doors and turning on lights. Sentara measures the time nightshift nurses spend at the bedside. Price, an AONL member, says the program is improving nightshift nurses’ well-being and resulting in more timely care since nightshift nurses ask virtual nurses for help with more complex tasks rather than delaying care to the dayshift. Virtual nurse turnover is less than 2.7%. (HealthLeaders Media article, 6/21/26)