Centralized Virtual Nurses Enable Team-Based Care, Address Staff Shortages

August 7, 2023
The Guthrie Clinic uses virtual nursing to address staffing shortages, improve patient monitoring, offer support to bedside nurses, and provide a career path beyond the bedside for experienced nurses. Virtual nursing reduced Guthrie’s reliance on traveling nurses by 74 FTEs and reduced labor costs by more than $7 million per year.

The leadership team at Guthrie, which has locations in Pennsylvania and New York, saw the prospect of closing beds as a wake-up call and decided to shift to a virtual, team-based approach to care to extend the reach of bedside nurses, attract new nurses, and create a culture of collaboration. At the core of this approach is Guthrie’s virtual command center, the Pulse Center, which offers bedside nurses round-the-clock support from experienced, trusted colleagues. For Guthrie, the initial investment in standing up a virtual nursing program was large, but the value in retaining experienced nurses and reducing reliance on expensive traveling nurses was worth it. From April 2022 to April 2023, the number of traveling nurses working at Guthrie went from 172 FTEs to 98 FTEs. Guthrie estimates that the virtual nursing approach saves more than $7 million per year in labor costs.

How They Did It

  • Created a remote virtual care center to supplement bedside nursing staff
  • Shifted tasks that can be completed remotely to virtual nurses
  • Integrated a video communications platform with Epic to enable remote monitoring and tele-sitting

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