Throughout 2023, Nursing Catalyst researchers interviewed the leaders of more than 15 virtual nursing programs and facilitated conversations with nursing executives on how they plan to scale their VN pilots. The above PDF briefing includes a digest of those conversations, including insights about program components that enable scale, common approaches to scale strategy, and predictions on the future of virtual care.
Here are the four insights we found on how health systems are scaling virtual nursing:
A variety of virtual nursing models can provide value, but some models are easier to scale than others.
Virtual nursing pilots vary widely in scope, technology, staffing, goals, and more. Generally speaking, most pilots achieve some number of anticipated positive outcomes without harming patients, staff, or unit goals. But value alone does not signal scalability. Large-scale adoption of virtual nursing typically requires not only significant investment in technology, but also frontline leader and clinician buy-in. Systems that have widely scaled their pilots (or who have concrete plans to do so) are measurably improving the model of care, and have operational similarities enabling their scale.
There's no one right answer to scaling virtual nursing models—but executives should select the approach that compliments their larger care delivery transformation goals.
While scaled programs start to converge around specific operational similarities, how systems are approaching expansion itself varies widely. Of systems that have or plan to widely expand their virtual nursing model, we’ve seen them use either a phased approach, iterative approach, enterprise-wide approach, or a centralized, multidisciplinary approach.
Executives must center frontline nurses and managers within scaling decisions and processes.
Effective change management is critical to the success of any new process or pilot, but especially when implementing a new way to provide patient care. Systems that rapidly expanded their virtual nursing model across the organization were able to do so in large part because leaders designed their scaling strategy to maximize the benefit to the bedside nurse—even if virtual nursing ROI stems from efficiency or productivity improvements.
Investing in a robust virtual nursing model sets the stage for multidisciplinary care delivery transformation.
For many leaders actively scaling virtual nursing models, the VN role is just the first step of larger care delivery transformation. For example, investing in two-way camera capabilities and HIPAA-compliant processes opens the door not only for nurses to work virtually, but for other members of the care team to do so as well.