VirtuAlly Expands Virtual Triage Nursing Service Through Collaboration With MUSC Health
Virtual Triage Nursing supports emergency department intake alongside MUSC Health’s Virtual Provider in Triage program
The integrated model allows virtual nurses to begin patient intake, assessment and documentation while emergency medicine providers simultaneously evaluate patients, initiate testing and treatment, and determine the appropriate care pathway.
By starting these processes before a traditional treatment room is available, the approach is designed to help emergency departments improve patient flow and reduce delays while allowing bedside nurses to focus on care requiring their physical presence.
“VPIT is about changing when care begins in the emergency department,” said Marc Bartman, MD, FACEP. “When provider evaluation and virtual nursing can start shortly after arrival, we can move a patient’s care forward before a traditional treatment space is available.”
A Coordinated Approach to ED Triage
Emergency department triage is a high-volume, high-pressure part of the patient journey. Traditional workflows require nurses to simultaneously assess patients, document information, communicate with care teams and manage patient flow.
VirtuAlly’s Virtual Triage Nursing service adds experienced virtual nurses to the process, helping advance intake and documentation while supporting bedside teams during periods of high census.
“Timely clinical assessment at the front door is essential to both patient outcomes and operational efficiency,” said Angel Bozard, Chief Nursing Officer at VirtuAlly.
The combined nursing and provider model is intended to turn waiting time into productive care time by allowing clinical assessment and decision-making to begin earlier.
Building on MUSC’s Virtual Care Experience
VirtuAlly originated at the Medical University of South Carolina, where its nurse-led virtual care model was developed. The new deployment extends that model into emergency department triage and builds on the organizations’ ongoing collaboration in virtual care.
MUSC Health and VirtuAlly say the integrated approach can be adapted to the workflows and needs of individual emergency departments.
VirtuAlly provides virtual nursing, telesitting, telemetry monitoring and clinical intelligence services designed to extend the capabilities of bedside teams and provide additional clinical support around the clock.
