February 5, 2025- Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Health plans to implement virtual nursing at each of its 12 hospitals by the end of October 2025, according to Becker’s. At the end of 2024, the health system launched a virtual nursing program at its flagship facility, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Efforts to expand the program started in January and, by the end of October, Sentara anticipates virtual nurses will be supporting nearly 1,800 medical-surgical and intermediate care beds systemwide.
The health system’s virtual nursing team will work from a centralized location at Independence Medical Center campus in Virginia Beach, Va. Virtual nurses are required to have at least five years of nursing experience, though those on the team currently have an average tenure of 14 years.
Going forward, leaders anticipate virtual nurses will support bedside nurses with additional tasks, such as dual verification of medications and safety monitoring. Sentara said it chose a model after studying virtual nursing efforts at other hospitals, including Houston Methodist Hospital and Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center.