LEXINGTON, Ky. — The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the way things operate for many essential workers, especially those in health care. It’s why a new virtual technology is being developed to help registered nurses in Kentucky.
Communities across the globe are continuing to recover from business closings, employee shortages and burn-out. Some of those hit the hardest were those in the health and emergency care field.
“We find people have left the field, and enrollment in nursing schools is down—not just in Kentucky but across the United States,” said Melissa Bennett, chief nursing executive at CHI Saint Joseph.
Now, Saint Joseph will be among the first in Lexington to provide virtually integrated nursing—a remote registered nurse available from a patient’s room. This means a nurse, who could be in a different city, can be called by tapping on a screen in front of the patient’s bed.
Saint Joseph Nurse Manager Laura Baker was on the third floor, where CommonSpirits Health was testing its Virtually Integrated Nursing Units. She said the new equipment encourages people to join the health field in general.
“It excites the nurses, and then they talk about it and word spreads. And we have more people entering nursing and more people wanting to come over to work on the floor,” Barker said of the technology’s impact.
Physicians, managers and nurses at Saint Joseph are calling it a game-changer. Saint Joseph RN Corey Ross is one nurse who says it’s already making a difference. He says it brings patients extra support from the time they enter until they leave.
“My relationship with my patients is incredible because, like I said, they have somebody that they know is there 24/7,” Ross said. “So, upon their admission, we talk to the patient and sort of let them know about virtually integrated care.”
Ross says it brings more intimacy to the hospital room, allowing him to get to know patients one-on-one.
“I always ask: ‘Is there anything that we could do just to make your hospital stay better?’” Ross said.
Hospital staff are applauding the technology’s ability to make working in the health field feel like it takes a group’s effort. “It truly brought the team concept back to nursing,” Ross said.
While the digital staff technology is currently on one floor at the hospital, they say they hope to expand it as shortages of health professionals continue to persist.