The old ways of growing the nursing workforce are no longer working, so it’s time for some new strategies.
The greatest challenge facing nursing leaders today is workforce development. Health systems are in dire need of solutions that improve both recruitment and retention.
These challenges come at a time when workplace violence is as prevalent as ever, and burnout is cited as a huge reason for nurse leader turnover. Virtual nursing and other new technologies like AI have also had an impact on the workforce and need to be considered when strategizing.
Here are four ways CNOs can move forward and build a strong, healthy, and happy workforce.
Nurse leaders must rely on each other and build resiliency amongst nurses.
Paula McKinney knew from a very young age that she wanted to be a nurse.
She began her career in 1986 at Toumey Regional Medical Center in South Carolina. After moving to Indiana in 1989, she advanced to nursing education to include a master’s degree in Community Health from Indiana Wesleyan University and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Southern Indiana.
McKinney created a dual nursing career as a nurse leader and nurse educator. She advanced her career in nursing leadership from manager, director, executive director, and then to chief nursing officer. She now serves as the vice president of patient care services and CNO at Woodlawn Health and is a HealthLeaders Exchange member.
On our latest installment of the Exec, HealthLeaders sat down with McKinney to discuss her journey into nursing, and her story of resiliency as a nurse and leader. Tune in to hear her insights.
Geisinger is leveraging virtual nursing technology to improve quality of care.
On this week’s episode of HL Shorts, we hear from Rebecca Stametz, vice president for digital innovation at Geisinger, about the virtual nursing models at Geisinger. Tune in to hear her insights.
The HealthLeaders Mastermind series is an exclusive series of calls and events with healthcare executives. This Virtual Nursing Mastermind series features ideas, solutions, and insights on excelling your virtual nursing program. Please join the community at our LinkedIn page.
To inquire about participating in an upcoming Mastermind series or attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event, email us at exchange@healthleadersmedia.com.
Mount Sinai is using several pieces of technology to improve care coordination.
As more virtual nursing programs pop up throughout healthcare, more technology is integrated into health system workflows, and it's important that nurse leaders understand the capabilities and potential applications.
Clair Lunt, senior director of nursing informatics at the Mount Sinai Health System, outlined how the New York-based health system uses technology in its virtual nursing program, and how they plan to expand the program in the future.
Ms. Lunt is a part of the HealthLeaders Virtual Nursing Mastermind program, in which several health systems are discussing the ins and outs of their virtual nursing programs and what their goals are for implementing this new strategy.
Technology
According to Ms. Lunt, Mount Sinai uses virtual nursing for admission and discharge documentation and patient education. They are using several pieces of technology including TVs and cameras.
"There is what's called a bridge, which is the platform where the virtual nurses can actually log into [their] systems and see [their] patients," Lunt said.
The cameras are placed above the TV in the patient’s room and paired with a high-resolution zoom camera next to the TV.
"Those cameras are used to home or zoom right in on wounds or medications or blood products that you need a second set of eyes on if needed," Ms. Lunt said.
There are also pillow speakers with microphones that patients can use to call the nurse.
"They can speak through it, and they just talk to the pillow speaker when they're answering," Ms. Lunt said, "and the virtual nurses can hear them."
Future applications
Over time, Ms. Lunt believes the program will go beyond virtual nursing.
"Other platforms will want to be able to use the technology to be able to care for patients at a multiple number of sites," Ms. Lunt said, "rather than have people based at each site."
For instance, someone from the MRI department could use the virtual platform to help patients complete -questionnaires, rather than having a bedside nurse dothem. Pharmacists could also use the platform to go over new medication information with patients.
Ms. Lunt said the platform could also be used for home rehab programs, with virtual nurses working with patients at home to complete physical assessments prior to pre-authorization, freeing up the clinician to work with the patient.
"They can just pop in and just talk to the family and the patient," Ms. Lunt said, "you can actually pull the patient's family members into a call without them actually having to be in the room with the patient."
The idea is that virtual nursing will expand to improve patient care overall, Ms. Lunt explained.
"So that care coordination piece, I think will become favorable for a lot of different disciplines," Ms. Lunt said, "not just virtual nursing."
The HealthLeaders Mastermind seriesis an exclusive series of calls and events with healthcare executives. This Virtual NursingMastermind series features ideas, solutions, and insights onexcelling your virtual nursing program.Please join the community at our LinkedIn page.
To inquire about participating in an upcoming Mastermind series or attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event, email us at exchange@healthleadersmedia.com.
This health system has four goals to reach with virtual nursing, says this CNO.
The potential of virtual nursing seems promising as many health systems begin to brainstorm and implement programs of their own.
Sarah Brown, CNO at UnityPoint Health, laid out how the Iowa-based health system has set up their virtual nursing program and what their four goals are for the future.
Brown is a part of the HealthLeaders Virtual Nursing Mastermind panel, where several health systems will discuss the ins and outs of their virtual nursing programs and what their goals are for implementing this new strategy.
Here are the four phases that UnityPoint hopes to achieve with their virtual nursing program.
The HealthLeaders Mastermind seriesis an exclusive series of calls and events with healthcare executives. This Virtual NursingMastermind series features ideas, solutions, and insights onexcelling your virtual nursing program.Please join the community at our LinkedIn page.
To inquire about participating in an upcoming Mastermind series or attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event, email us at exchange@healthleadersmedia.com.
Mentorship between new and tenured nurses is mutually beneficial, this nurse leader says.
On this week’s episode of HL Shorts, we hear from Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, about how CNOs can create mentorship opportunities to help retain nurses. Tune in to hear her insights.
UnityPoint's CNO discusses the future of the health system's virtual nursing program.
The potential of virtual nursing seems promising as many health systems begin to brainstorm and implement programs of their own.
Sarah Brown, CNO at UnityPoint Health, laid out how the Iowa-based health system has set up their virtual nursing program and what their four goals are for the future.
Brown is a part of the HealthLeaders Virtual Nursing Mastermind panel, where several health systems will discuss the ins and outs of their virtual nursing programs and what their goals are for implementing this new strategy.
Starting goals
Many health systems are using virtual nursing to offload work and give time back to nurses to be at the bedside. And at UnityPoint it's no different.
"Our goals with it initially, and I would say they have morphed a bit over time," Brown said, "[were] really to redesign the work so that we could remove some work from our nurses that were at the bedside to try to make their experience while they were at work better."
Brown said UnityPoint wanted to set up the program in a way that did not sacrifice quality or patient experience. The main focus was on improving the bedside nurse experience, and that remains a priority, along with efficiency and quality goals.
"I think the efficiency piece comes when we’re getting high, 90%, maybe even 100% of our admissions on our med surg inpatient united completed within the first four hours," Brown said. "That's not something we could have said before."
Brown attributed that success to how they resourced differently. There is now more focus and consistency with the people doing the admission and discharge processes, and so they are able to do more of them. Brown said they are heading toward a retention goal with the program as well.
"With that experience, they catch more things," Brown said. "I think where we want to go is then more focused on our new-to-practice nurses that really need more of a mentor [or] coach sort of role."
What's next
Brown sees UnityPoint going through four evolutionary phases with the virtual nursing program.
Phase one includes the admission and discharge processes and other documentation needs, along with some care planning and patient education.
Phase two will focus on operations and implementing in-room technology. This would enable the virtual nurse to help check medications, blood draws and other processes with the bedside nurse in the room. They could also help assist with documentation during a rapid response situation, and help with virtual rounding.
"I think we are a bit hampered with moving forward in the other phases without the in-room technology," Brown said, "so that piece will be really important to us."
The third phase is expanding the program to allow for monitoring on a broader scale. Virtual nurses could then act as eyes in the sky, to look for deterioration, sepsis, or other patient conditions.
At that point, the health system could move to the fourth phase and use virtual nursing for mentorship of new-to- practice nurses.
Brown said that three years into the program they have really matured the first phase, but they still have a long way to go to get to the long-term goals.
Additionally, Brown is hopeful that UnityPoint can implement virtual care in the EICU.
"Like many organizations, we are at max capacity in many of our hospitals on a daily basis," Brown said. "I have this idea that there has to be a way we can incorporate virtual waiting room monitoring or virtual nursing in our emergency departments as well."
The HealthLeaders Mastermind seriesis an exclusive series of calls and events with healthcare executives. This Virtual NursingMastermind series features ideas, solutions, and insights onexcelling your virtual nursing program.Please join the community at our LinkedIn page.
To inquire about participating in an upcoming Mastermind series or attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event, email us at exchange@healthleadersmedia.com.
Here's why your workforce growth strategies aren't working, according to this nurse leader.
The greatest challenge facing nursing leaders today is workforce development. Health systems are in dire need of solutions that improve both recruitment and retention.
These challenges come at a time when workplace violence is as prevalent as ever, and burnout plays a huge role in nurse leader turnover. Virtual nursing and other new technologies like AI have also had an impact on the workforce and need to be considered when strategizing.
HealthLeaders spoke with Dr. Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association, to find out what workforce growth strategies need to be put to rest and explore four ways CNOs can move forward and build a strong, healthy, and happy workforce. Tune in to hear her insights.
CNOs must take a look at how they introduce new nurses into the workforce, says this nurse leader.
On this week’s episode of HL Shorts, we hear from April Prunty, director of nursing professional development at Allina Health, about how CNOs can prepare new nurses for the difficulties they will face on the job. Tune in to hear her insights.
Nurses should give their input on new technologies that are meant to help them.
On this week’s episode of HL Shorts, we hear from Lisa Stephenson, chief nursing informatics officer at Houston Methodists, about how CNOs and CNIOs can implement new technology so it doesn't become a burden on staff. Tune in to hear her insights.
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