Two trends impacting nurse staffing include AI and telenursing, Scott Armstrong, VP of client growth at Medical Solutions, said in an Aug. 21 interview with SIA.

AI is able to look at data such as census points and historical staffing demand and predict patient volumes and the type of staff that will be needed, Armstrong noted.

“Healthcare institutions across the country are looking for more effective ways to manage shifts to manage schedules to fill holes in staffing gaps,” he said. AI can equip leaders with insights they need to better compare benchmarks.

Armstrong also discussed telenursing.

Separately, a study by McKinsey & Co. found that telehealth use was up 38 times in 2021 compared to before the pandemic. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners has also supported the use of telehealth. In an example of telenursing, Jefferson Health in Philadelphia last year announced a virtual nurse pilot program with each patient still getting a bedside nurse and some also getting a virtual nurse. The system said it was one of the first in its region to roll out such a program.

The virtual nurses at Jefferson Health could help with patient check-ins and various care tasks, admission and discharge paperwork, patient and family education, care consultation and electronic health record documentation.

Armstrong said he’s seeing telenursing on the rise.

“Telenursing optimizes staffing models by allowing nurses to be able to be a part of the care team and partner with bedside nurses to provide exceptional care, so it’s kind of blending a virtual experience with those nurses and clinicians that are still working on at the bedside,” he said.

Telenurses can also help rural facilities with few other options for bringing in clinicians, Armstrong said.

In addition, telenursing also allows nurses who may otherwise retire to continue working as a nurse, he said. Instead of working on their feet for 12-hour shifts, they can transition to telenursing and still use their skills. It also enables clinicians that are at the bedside to focus more on that patient care and the things that need to be happening in person.

“It’s definitely a hot topic right now, and you’re seeing more and more healthcare systems adopt this type of model,” Armstrong said. “I think right now, just in general, the palette for healthcare leaders is they understand that the staffing dynamic and the staffing challenges are more complex than they ever have been, so they need to be open to literally every possibility that’s safe and responsible.”