Can Virtual Patient Monitoring Lower RN Burnout?
Nurses have had enough. They are resigning at record rates for a number of reasons, two of the most common: burnout and concerns around patient safety.
With nurses spread so thin, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage day-to-day tasks, like answering call bells—which patients use an average of 12-15 times each in a standard nursing shift—or addressing bed alarms. It’s understandable that over time, bell ringing and alarms become just an ever-present feature instead of signaling a true emergent need.
Throughout the U.S., registered nurses are publicly voicing their frustrations. For instance, nurses at AHMC Seton Medical Center in Daly, California organized a two-day strike and rally for patient safety, as did RNs at University of Chicago Medical Center, RNs at Duarte, California City of Hope, and RNs at Mission Hospital in Asheville, NC.
Hospitals need better strategies to address nurse burnout and level up patient safety
Michelle, a 22-year nursing veteran from Seton shared, “We are working without proper supplies, without appropriate staff, and nurses are being asked to do two or more jobs at once. Every time we have to search for supplies or are forced to take on additional duties, we are taken away from our most important duty, that of caring for our patients. Our patients deserve far better.”
Incredible Health, a healthcare hiring platform reported that 34% of nurses said they were likely to quit their job by the end of 2022.
How much could RN resignations cost your hospital?
NSI Nursing Solutions conducted a retention and RN staffing study and found that the average cost of turnover for a staff RN is $46,100. The average time it takes to fill a specialized nursing position? Three months or more. costing about $82,000.
Virtual patient monitoring offers nurses and patients numerous benefits
While patient needs have not decreased, the number of nurses available to tend to those needs certainly has. This is where VirtuAlly comes in as a key mitigation. It’s purposely designed to:
Improve communication between nurses and patients
Deliver more efficient care team workflows
Provide timely access to resources
Monitor high-risk patients
Reduce the need for 1:1 patient sitters
VirtuAlly’s two-way audio-visual technology and trained technicians fill staffing gaps and provide around the clock support for high-risk patients. Watch video for a quick overview.
In the hospital setting, VirtuAlly reduces call bell use by 60% and bed alarms by nearly 50% through redirection and proactive engagement with patients. Our technicians communicate in real-time with the nursing team to help the RNs manage and triage patients who need immediate attention.
In nursing home/care facility settings, VirtuAlly is beginning to positively impact the rate of successful redirections—in some cases improving redirection rates from just 25% to 60%.
With the inclusion of VirtuAlly’s virtual monitoring technology, the staff can care for others while our technicians keep patients from wandering out of their rooms or getting out of bed without their mobility devices.
As burnout continues to impact nearly every realm of the healthcare industry, virtual monitoring solutions can offer support to improve overall patient safety and staff retention—for one client, to the tune of over 15% in the last 6 months alone.
Together, we can keep our patients safe and value those who care for them.
