AvaSure, the market leader in acute virtual sitting and virtual nursing solutions, announced the results of a primary market research survey revealing that the majority of chief nursing officers (CNOs) view virtual nursing as integral to care delivery models in acute patient care.

The Virtual Nursing Insight Survey of 789 health professionals also found that:

• CNOs believe that the three most important metrics for measuring the success of virtual nursing programs are improving nurse satisfaction and retention (86%), improving workload burden for current staff (82%), and improving patient experience (81%).
• CNOs see numerous use cases in which virtual nursing can deliver a positive impact in acute patient care, with the most frequently cited responses as discharge (59%), admissions (53%), patient education (51%), expert clinical oversight (35%), and rounding (24%).
• Most CNOs feel there is an opportunity to recruit nurses who are either unable or unwilling to work at the bedside to work as a virtual nurse.

“The survey results underscore the importance to health systems of using technology to augment front-line staff amid a climate of unsustainable costs and labor shortages,” said Lisbeth Votruba, MSN, RN, chief clinical officer, AvaSure. “Virtual nursing technology extends the reach of bedside nurses, giving them more time for direct, hands-on patient care and resulting in reduced costs for health systems.”

Nursing represents a significant staffing crisis for hospitals worldwide. A total of 13 million nurses will need to be replaced globally within the coming years, according to a report from the International Council of Nurses, a shortage that could result in a “global health emergency.” As a result, an increasing number of nurse leaders are interested in exploring virtual nursing technology, which uses mobile audio and video monitoring devices to connect bedside staff to a remote care support team.

The Virtual Nursing Insight Survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Joslin Insight on behalf of AvaSure between April 10 and 18, 2023. The survey received responses from 789 healthcare professionals primarily working in acute care settings, including nurse leaders, managers, educators and key decision makers.

To see the full survey report, click here.