Utilizing Telenursing to Supplement Acute Care Nursing in an Era of Workforce Shortages: A Feasibility Pilot

Roberta L. Schwartz, Shannan K. Hamlin, Gail M. Vozzella, Lindsay N. Randle, Steven Klahn, Gabbi J. Maris, Amy D. Waterman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Hospitals are experiencing a nursing shortage crisis that is expected to worsen over the next decade. Acute care settings, which manage the care of very complex patients, need innovations that lessen nurses' workload burden while ensuring safe patient care and outcomes. Thus, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of implementing a large-scale acute care telenurse program, where a hospital-employed telenurse would complete admission and discharge processes for hospitalized patients virtually. In 3 months, almost 9000 (67%) of patient admissions and discharges were conducted by an acute care telenurse, saving the bedside nurse an average of 45 minutes for each admission and discharge. Preliminary benefits to the program included more uninterrupted time with patients, more complete hospital admission and discharge documentation, and positive patient and nurse feedback about the program.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)151-157
Number of pages7
JournalCIN - Computers Informatics Nursing
Volume42
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 1 2024

Keywords

  • Nurses
  • Pandemic
  • Patient discharge
  • Telemedicine
  • Workforce
  • Pilot Projects
  • Humans
  • Nursing Staff, Hospital
  • Telenursing
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Workload

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health Informatics
  • Nursing (miscellaneous)

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