MOLINE, Ill. — UnityPoint Health is one of the first health care organizations in the country to staff the future generation of nurses: virtual ones.
In 2021, UnityPoint Health started working on the Certified Acute-Care Virtual Registered Nurses program. Once nurses are CAVRN certified, they can work remotely to care for patients.
Virtual nurses can care for several patients at at time by monitoring vital signs, conducting admissions and discharges, watching for slips or falls and summoning in-person doctors or nurses when needed. Virtual nurses also provide education materials to patients and their families at the time of discharge.
This has led to an 8% improvement in patients' understanding of how to manage their care at home, which helps prevent readmissions, UnityPoint Health tells News 8.
Since introducing its virtual nursing program in 2021 UnityPoint Health has grown the program to support 12 hospitals, 34 inpatient units and 1,038 beds. The current team consists of more than 50 virtual registered nurses.
Earlier this year, the first 40 nurses in the country to obtain CAVRN certification were also asked to assist in developing the CAVRN exam. Of those, seven were UnityPoint Health
nurses.
- Brett Bullis, RN, CAVRN, UnityPoint Health – Des Moines
- Camella Wright, BSN, RN, CPEN, CAVRN, UnityPoint Health – Des Moines
- Cheyenne Zeien, RN, CAVRN, UnityPoint Health – Waterloo
- Emily Niebuhr, RN, CAVRN, UnityPoint Health – Quad Cities
- Kimberly Pittman, RN, CAVRN, UnityPoint Health – Sioux City
- Lori Babcock, RN, CAVRN, UnityPoint Health – Des Moines
- Sarah Brown, MSN, RN, CENP, NEA-BC, CAVRN, UnityPoint Health
"This certification reflects the expertise of our virtual nursing team and demonstrates to our patients and communities that we have the knowledge and skills to deliver high-quality virtual care in the inpatient environment," UnityPoint Health Chief Nursing Officer Sarah Brown said in a press release. "I'm honored to have been a part of the exam development process and continue to be inspired by the partnership between our virtual and bedside nursing teams in caring for our patients."
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