As Virtual Nursing Becomes the Standard, Where Is It Going Next?

The 2025 Virtual Nursing Mastermind program is well underway as participants brainstorm the future and potential of virtual nursing.

As healthcare technologies progress, virtual nursing is becoming the standard of care throughout health systems across the country.

In systems big and small, nurse and innovation leaders are making strides to integrate technology into nursing in ways that will benefit nurses, patients, and their families, while remaining cost effective.

The HealthLeaders Virtual Nursing Mastermind is now in its second year of the program. The participating health systems are meeting this week, from March 17-18, in Atlanta to discuss how far they've come in their virtual nursing programs and where they are going next.

Where it started

In 2024, according to the program final report, the goals of each health system were to improve the nursing workflows on a broader scale, and to address workforce shortages and burnout. Nurses are heavily burdened with administrative tasks that take away time spent with their patients, and virtual nursing can help remove many of those tasks.

According to the program survey last year, 72 % of the health systems reporting being in the early (36%) to mid-stages (36%) of their virtual nursing journeys, with only 27 % reporting being in the mature stage. The early stage is when a program is still in ideation and testing, the mid-stage is when there is some adoption and promising outcomes, and program maturity is reached when a program is becoming systemwide.

For most of the participants (91%) in 2024, virtual nursing had an impact on their medical surgical departments, followed by the ICU (64%), behavioral (18%) and chronic care (18%) departments, outpatient (9%), rehab (9%), and ED/follow up (9%). 

The response was overwhelmingly positive from staff, patients, and leadership. While 89% of the participants reported less than 5% of the nursing budget being attributed to virtual nursing, 80 % of participants also reported they expect their health systems’ virtual nursing labor budget to increase between 10% and 25% over the next three years.

Where it's going

This year, many of the returning participants as well as the new health systems in the program are much further along in their virtual nursing journeys. While many began with carts, several have moved toward in-room technology with built-in cameras and televisions. The goal now is to consolidate technology to optimize the experience for both nurses and patients.

AI has a bright future in virtual care. The participants what to incorporate ambient listening technology into patient rooms for verbal documentation and, where possible, into the electronic medical record (EMR). AI has the potential to optimize tasks, such as searching for information in the EMR.

The participants also have plans to expand virtual care technology beyond just med surge units and nursing. Many want to expand into the emergency department, which has several roadblocks, as well as acute care at home programs. For the virtual nurses themselves, several organizations want to make working from home a viable option, rather than having all the virtual nurses in a centralized location.

There is much more to come from the 2025 Virtual Nursing Mastermind program, so stay tuned for more coverage.

The HealthLeaders Mastermind series is an exclusive series of calls and events with healthcare executives focusing on pain points that matter most to you. This Virtual Nursing Mastermind series features ideas, solutions, and insights into excelling your virtual nursing program. 

To inquire about participating in an upcoming Mastermind series or attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event, email us at anorris@healthleadersmedia.com.