Providence Alaska Medical Center Launches Virtual Nursing Program to Address Nursing Shortage

Providence Alaska Medical Center (PAMC) has launched “a new care model designed to enhance patient safety and help address the nationwide nurse shortage” known as “co-caring / virtual nursing.”

The model “combines the skills of a bedside nurse with a virtual (remote) nurse and a dedicated patient care technician or a certified nursing assistant. The bedside nurse manages all direct patient-care duties, while the virtual nurse coordinates other support tasks that don’t require a bedside presence, such as discharge planning, medication management and patient education. The virtual nurses provide patient care via in-room audio and video technology.”

Alaska is projected to lead the nation in nursing vacancies by 2030 according to a study by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. This new model is meant to help meet that demand.

Virtual nurses at PAMC “must be licensed by the Alaska Board of Nursing. Nurses who provide care virtually also have the same job description and requirements as other nurses working in the unit.” The virtual nurses are relatively new, but they are “connecting with patients’ family members to provide updates, helping patients order food from the hospital cafeteria and working with bedside nurses to prepare patients to leave the hospital.”