For 79-year-old Jim Hunter, it’s been 2 weeks in the hospital at Trinity Health Ann Arbor. While registered nurse Jeanne Patton is there for physical care, another registered nurse Kayla, provides virtual care.
It’s part of the “TogetherTeam Virtual Connected Care” program that’s been in place for almost 3 months at the Ann Arbor hospital. 66 rooms across 2 units are equipped with the technology, while 2 to 3 virtual nurses work out of a control room in the building. That equates to about 22 patients during the day, and 33 at night per virtual nurse. The virtual nurse is in addition, not in replace of, a physical Registered Nurse and a Licensed Practical Nurse for each patient.
“I think it’s a big game changer,” said virtual RN Amy Koil. “When I first heard about virtual nursing I was a little resistant because of the overall nursing shortage. My thought was we need physical bodies at the bedside not necessarily someone on a camera.”
Koil worked more than a decade in the ICU but is now one of the first virtual nurses in the Ann Arbor hospital. She says the job is less physically demanding but still rewarding. She can talk with patients and even zoom into details with her camera to diagnose problems.