Hospitals see the potential in virtual nursing, but are still learning how to use it

Lauren McNeal, a registered nurse, monitors patients in multiple facilities remotely from the Center for Connected Care at Penn Medicine Rittenhouse in Philadelphia. — The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

PHILADELPHIA: Philadelphia-area hospitals are rolling carts outfitted with video screens and virtual cameras into patient rooms with the hope that remote nurses can reduce patients’ risk of falling, pulling out tubes, or hurting themselves another way.

One remote nurse can do the work of up to a dozen in-person staffers by watching a bank of cameras stationed in patient rooms, and sometimes interacting with patients via video. Research has found these so-called virtual sitters can help reduce patient falls, because the nurses on the other end of the camera are not moving from room to room, but solely dedicated to watching patients’ every move.