Mercy Virtual Nursing: An Innovative Care Delivery Model

The US Department of Health and Human Services reports that by the year 2025, the demand for nurses will increase by 21%, whereas 1 million veteran and baby boomer generations are expected to retire.1 These staffing projections are multifactorial. Some areas of the country will experience a shortage of nurses, whereas other areas will experience a shortage of experienced nurses resulting in a disparity in both experience and supply of nurses. This burden is more pronounced in rural areas where nurses are fewer in quantity and a disproportionate percentage of the elderly reside. Exacerbating the nursing shortage is the inability of nursing programs to respond by producing increased quantities of graduates to close the gap between supply and demand. Addressing the shortage requires an optimization of available resources and an enhanced care delivery model that operationalizes technology and critical thinking to yield optimal patient outcomes. This article describes how Mercy is leveraging technology to redesign a care delivery model that addresses challenges faced in many rural communities and increases patient quality while providing the opportunity to utilize data synthesis to advance nursing knowledge.