UnityPoint Health CNO wants to use virtual nursing for mentoring

UnityPoint Health System ultimately wants to use virtual nursing to mentor novice nurses, according to CNO Sarah Brown. AONL member Brown says the Des Moines, Iowa-based health system successfully used virtual nursing during the last three years to make its admissions and discharge process more efficient, enabling front-line nurses to spend more time with patients. The system uses virtual nursing for some documentation needs and some care planning and patient education. Brown says the system next will use virtual nursing to implement in-room technology, such as checking medication, blood draws and other processes with the bedside nurse in the room. UnityPoint will then expand the program to enable virtual nurses to look for deterioration, sepsis or other patient conditions and incorporate mentoring. (HealthLeaders Media article, 5/20/24)