Virtual Nursing: The New Reality in Quality Care.

The purpose of this article is to report on an innovative new model of care and the effects this model pilot program had on patient satisfaction, staff satisfaction, physician satisfaction, patient quality metrics, and financial metrics. The Virtually Integrated Care team is a model of care that leverages technology to bring an experienced expert nurse into the patients' room virtually. The advanced technology allows the virtual nurse to direct and monitor patient care, interacting with the patient through 6 core roles: patient education, staff mentoring/education, real-time quality/patient safety surveillance, physician rounding, admission activities, and discharge activities.