Revolutionizing Patient Care: Virtual Nursing for a Healthier Tomorrow
Upcoming webinar will explore how nurses and patients thrive in a hybrid care model.
September 3, 2025
Hospitals across the country are facing a perfect storm: experienced nurses are retiring or leaving the profession due to burnout, new nurses are entering the field amid unpredictable patient acuity, and traditional staffing models aren’t sustainable.
As a result, the workforce is overwhelmed, patient outcomes are at risk and the profession is under immense strain. In a 2022 national survey, it was found that nearly a quarter of over 300,000 nurses plan to leave their position by 2027.
As complexity grows faster than traditional staffing models can adapt, we must explore innovative solutions that preserve care quality and support the invaluable nursing workforce. Virtual nursing leverages telehealth technology to deliver expert, remote nursing care in rounding, monitoring, education and real-time consultations while complementing bedside teams and elevating metrics.
Intercept Telehealth will be hosting a webinar on Thursday, September 18 to provide a detailed primer on Virtual Nursing. In that webinar, you’ll discover how to
- Understand the current challenges in the nursing workforce.
- Identify the core components and benefits of virtual nursing.
- Explore how virtual nursing aligns with NDNQI benchmarks.
- Evaluate real-world applications of virtual nursing.
We encourage you to sign up to learn more about this burgeoning healthcare solution. In the meantime, let’s unpack how virtual nursing not only addresses critical staffing challenges but also drives measurable improvements in patient outcomes, satisfaction scores and nurse engagement.
More Than Just Numbers
Hospitals across the country are operating with fewer hands on deck and more complex cases than ever before. Key stressors include:
- A projected shortfall of up to 450,000 nurses in the U.S.
- Burnout-driven turnover, as burnout is the top reason (54%) nurses leave their job.
- Increased patient acuity demanding specialized skills within every shift.
- Rapid technological advances outpacing the evolution of care models.
In addition to straining budgets, these factors jeopardize patient safety, extend lengths of stay and increase readmission rates. To safeguard quality and workforce sustainability, we need scalable, high-impact interventions.
Introducing Virtual Nursing and Its Core Benefits
Virtual nursing integrates trained, remote registered nurses into hospital workflows via telehealth platforms. This innovative approach bridges geographical obstacles with digital connectivity, offering a range of benefits that address critical challenges in healthcare.
By alleviating bedside workload, virtual nursing supports routine rounding, documentation, and patient education, allowing in-person bedside teams to focus on direct care. It also delivers cost savings by optimizing staff distribution and reducing overtime while enhancing efficiency through continuous remote monitoring and early detection tools.
Patients benefit from improved satisfaction due to timely education and family communication, while hospitals align with nurse-sensitive indicators tracked by the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI). Virtual nursing ensures continuity of care across units and shifts, offering nurses a flexible work environment that helps hospitals retain talent.
Virtual Nursing’s Service Offerings Across the Hospital
Virtual nursing can be tailored to support a number of existing clinical settings.
In medical-surgical and progressive care units, virtual nurses conduct scheduled check-ins to catch early warning signs, provide patient education on admissions, deliver post-op care and offer continuous vital signs surveillance. They also assist with documentation, including admission and discharge assessments, and can even facilitate real-time family communication through video updates.
In critical care units, virtual nursing offers 24/7 tele-critical care surveillance, expert RN consultations and secondary documentation support. Additionally, nurses in high-risk patient management benefit from eCoaching and clinical education.
Emergency departments leverage virtual nursing for triage support, prioritizing critical cases and reducing surge delays. Virtual nurses also manage patient flow to decrease wait times and streamline transitions.
Supplementary specialty services often include virtual sitters for secure, round-the-clock video observation to prevent harm and virtual sepsis management for early detection and intervention aligned with SEP-1 guidelines.
How Virtual Nursing Supports and Aligns with the NDNQI
When building a virtual nursing program, it’s crucial to make sure your program aligns with the NDNQI:
- Patient Falls
The industry benchmark for patient falls is fewer than three falls per 1,000 patient days. Virtual nursing teams can provide continuous surveillance and rapid alerts, enabling early intervention that helps reduce fall risk.
- Pressure Injuries
Hospitals aim to keep pressure injury rates below 5.4 per 10,000 patient days. Through routine virtual rounding, remote nurses can spot early warning signs and coordinate preventive measures.
- Central Line–Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI)
The target CLABSI rate is approximately one infection per 1,000 central line days. Expert virtual RN consultations reinforce best practices around line maintenance and aseptic techniques, reducing infection complications.
- Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)
The benchmark for CAUTI is also less than one infection per 1,000 catheter days. With remote monitoring and timely catheter care guidance, virtual nursing supports adherence to protocol and drives CAUTI rates down.
Real-World Impact Through Benchmarks of Success
Hospitals practicing virtual nursing report:
- 10–15% reduction in patient length of stay, freeing up critical beds.
- 20–30% faster discharge processes through remote education and summary preparation.
- 5–10% gains in patient satisfaction scores due to personalized attention.
- Lower readmission rates by ensuring clear follow-up instructions and patient understanding.
These improvements translate directly into better clinical outcomes, stronger regulatory compliance (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and SEP-1) and optimized staff utilization.
Your Roadmap to Virtual Nursing Success
As healthcare leaders, you’re at the forefront of transforming care delivery. We hope you’ll join us for our upcoming webinar, Revolutionizing Patient Care: Virtual Nursing for a Healthier Tomorrow to learn much more about the topics mentioned above.
Register today to join the conversation on Thursday, September 18 from 12 to 1:00 p.m. CDT.
