Becker's Hospital Review

24 CMO / CARE DELIVERY WellSpan's virtual nursing wins, 1 year in By Mackenzie Bean Not even a year into its virtual nursing and telesitting journey, WellSpan Health has already achieved significant improvements. e York, Pa.-based system first piloted use of AI-driven virtual sitters and virtual nursing technology at WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital in August 2023. Virtual nurses have significantly supported their colleagues at the bedside, facilitating processes such as admissions, discharges and inpatient education. On average, they save other nurses about two hours per shi, allowing them to devote more time to direct patient care tasks. WellSpan uses Artisight's smart hospital platform for virtual care. Care team members worked closely with the company to customize the platform's algorithms to meet the specific needs of their care settings. During the pilot period, WellSpan's rehab hospital saw a 15% decrease in patient falls, an 11% improvement in nurse turnover and a 21% increase in HCAHPS scores related to nurse communication. In one instance, a virtual observer identified a patient going into respiratory distress and promptly alerted the rapid response team before the individual's condition deteriorated to a code blue. In another, a virtual nurse witnessed a patient remove their IV as part of an elopement attempt and alerted unit staff before any harm occurred. Based on the pilot's success, WellSpan is now expanding virtual nursing and sitting to all acute care settings across its seven hospitals, according to Kasey Paulus, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing executive of WellSpan. "Our patients really appreciate having the opportunity to connect with a virtual nurse and have uninterrupted time to get all their questions answered," she told Becker's. "We've seen really great feedback from our nurses in really feeling supported through this technology." n Hospitals save $1,700 per admission when sticking to these standards By Ashleigh Hollowell H ospitals, on average, save $1,763 per admission, have fewer patient complications, and a decreased length of stay after implementing programs based on 12 standards outlined by the American College of Surgeons. Researchers from the American College of Surgeons released the third part in a series of evaluations on the effectiveness of the organization's 12 standards outlined in its Quality Verification Program. The results were published July 9 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. They focused on reviewing 150 studies that focused on one of three things: standardized team-based care across five phases of surgical care, disease-based management, and external regulatory review. The analysis revealed that hospitals adhering to these standards saw decreased length of stay by about 1.9 days and also reduced hospital costs by $1,763 per admission. "Because all hospitals are different, each is able to focus on individual priorities for improvement," Clifford Ko, MD, the director of ACS Quality Programs, said in a news release shared with Becker's. "What's clear is that QVP provides the roadmap and tools to make significant improvement, leading to better patient care and a more effective and efficient use of resources by a hospital." The other two studies in the three part series looked at how hospitals can build quality and safety resources and infrastructure, and how to create processes for reliable quality improvement. n of politics and put it into the realm of public health." e report covers gun violence's growing toll in the U.S. over the years. In 2020, gun violence surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death in American children and adolescents. e surgeon general's advisory calls for a public health-based approach to address the crisis, drawing on aspects from prior campaigns against smoking and traffic safety. In addition to research investments on firearm violence Dr. Murphy called for community-based risk reduction and prevention strategies, which include health systems facilitating education on safe and secure firearm storage with their patients and employees. e report also calls for strengthening hospital and community partnerships to enhance prevention efforts. Other recommendations from the surgeon general include universal background checks, banning assault weapons and treating guns like other consumer products regulated by federal agencies, such as pesticides or prescription drugs. Leaders from 10 medical groups and organizations, including the American College of Emergency Physicians, American College of Surgeons, and Michael Dowling, CEO of New York City-based Northwell Health, applauded the surgeon general for recognizing gun violence as a national crisis. Over the past few years, a growing pack of prominent voices at hospitals and health systems across the country have begun to recognize and treat gun violence as a nonpolitical health issue. Since 2021, more than 600 healthcare professionals have engaged with the Gun Violence Prevention Learning Collaborative for Hospitals and Health Systems, an effort spearheaded by Mr. Dowling. More than 40% of participants in the collaborative have said they have started or expanded evidence- based prevention strategies at their organizations. n

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