FORT WAYNE, IND. – OCT.18, 2022 – Parkview Health is expanding its virtual care initiatives at the Parkview Digital Care Center to enhance healthcare throughout the region.
Combining care delivery, technology and support in one centralized location, Parkview’s Digital Care Center is home to its Virtual Health and Virtual Care departments. The Virtual Health department, which offers virtual outpatient care options such as Parkview MyChart and Parkview OnDemand, has been part of the Digital Care Center since 2020.
New to the center is Parkview’s Virtual Care department, which provides 24/7 remote clinical support for all of Parkview’s hospitals. The Virtual Care department is a clinical group of experienced nurses and Virtual Care technicians who monitor inpatients across the Parkview system and play a key role in patient safety, healing and recovery.
“The Virtual Care department serves as yet another example of how Parkview is committed to enhancing the patient experience and care environments, while controlling the costs associated with care,” said Michelle Charles, chief nursing informatics officer, Parkview Health. “The addition of virtual nurses and virtual care technicians allows our bedside staff to focus more exclusively on each patient’s needs. This team will maximize our resources and effectively monitor multiple inpatients to address their needs more quickly.”
Virtual nurses are experienced critical care nurses who perform surveillance of patient data to detect early signs of sepsis development. The virtual nurses notify bedside nurses and providers to initiate sepsis intervention care, which is shown to prevent serious illness or death.
In the future, Parkview will evaluate additional ways that virtual nurses can augment bedside care, including interacting with patients via the TV in their room, providing education and facilitating faster discharges.
Virtual care technicians are specially trained caregivers who use continuous video monitoring, or virtual sitting, for patients at risk of falling or harm. They can rapidly intervene or redirect patients via the system’s microphones, and they notify staff about concerns or emergency situations. To respect patients’ rights to privacy and confidentiality, the virtual sitting service is only initiated by a nursing order, and no audio or video is recorded.
Both virtual nursing and virtual sitting are shown to improve patient outcomes by reducing the incidence of sepsis or injury, shortening hospital length of stay and decreasing patients’ overall cost of care. In other healthcare organizations, virtual care has been shown to enhance the care provided by bedside nurses, reduce nurse burnout, and increase patient safety and satisfaction.
“The Digital Care Center is part of Parkview’s commitment to using technology that creates a more efficient and effective model of care,” said Max Maile, senior vice president, Digital Health, Parkview Health. “We are excited to implement services that will enhance hospital care and look forward to seeing the additional ways we can use virtual health to deliver excellent care to every person in our region.”