Katie Nolen, director of virtual health at Piedmont Healthcare
Photo: Piedmont Healthcare
For Piedmont Healthcare, virtual nursing has been a transformative care model that addresses the nursing workforce crisis while improving patient outcomes and operational efficiency.
Piedmont Healthcare's experience demonstrates how leveraging technology to reimagine bedside care can alleviate staffing shortages, reduce administrative burden, and enhance both patient and clinician experiences, said Katie Nolen, director of virtual health at the Georgia health system.
She and her colleague Grant Reed, clinical manager of virtual nursing operations, will present the session "Virtual Nursing: Redefining the Bedside Experience through Virtual Innovation" at the 2026 HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition in March in Las Vegas.
Proven, with measurable results
"This is not just a theoretical concept," she explained. "It's a proven, scalable solution that has already been implemented across 17 hospitals with measurable results – including faster discharge times, improved medication safety and higher nurse satisfaction.
"This topic is critically important to HIMSS26 attendees because the healthcare industry continues to face unprecedented staffing challenges, rising patient acuity and financial pressures," she continued. "Traditional models of care are no longer sustainable, and organizations must innovate to maintain quality and safety."
Virtual nursing offers a practical, technology-enabled approach that aligns with broader trends in digital health, workforce optimization and patient-centered care, she added. Attendees will gain insights into how this model can be integrated into existing workflows without compromising care quality – a pressing concern for leaders navigating post-pandemic realities, she said.
HIMSS26 attendees will be looking for actionable strategies that combine technology and clinical innovation to solve real-world problems. Nolen said virtual nursing is not just about adding screens to rooms, it's about redesigning care delivery to maximize the value of every clinician's time.
A roadmap for virtual nursing
"By sharing Piedmont's journey – including implementation methodology, lessons learned and performance metrics – we aim to equip attendees with a roadmap for implementing similar programs in their organizations," she noted.
"A key example we'll share is Piedmont's technical and clinical implementation strategy for virtual nursing, which was designed to enable rapid scaling across 17 hospitals and 2,700 beds in less than 18 months," she continued. "The foundation of this success was a phased rollout plan combined with robust infrastructure preparation and governance."
Rather than treating virtual nursing as a standalone technology project, Piedmont integrated it into enterprise-level planning, aligning clinical operations, IT and vendors from the outset. This ensured every technical decision supported clinical workflows and scalability, Nolen said.
"The implementation began with site visits and vendor selection in May 2023, followed by a pilot launch in September 2023 at three hospitals," she recalled. "During this phase, Piedmont finalized technical standards for device installation – including cabling, networking and sensor integration – to guarantee reliability and security.
"A centralized support model was established early, pulling technology and application support under the virtual health team and adding dedicated technical staff," she continued. "This proactive approach minimized downtime and allowed for rapid troubleshooting as the number of endpoints grew from 140 to nearly 3,000 in under 18 months."
A standardized deployment framework
To maintain momentum, Piedmont adopted a repeatable deployment framework: standardized equipment packages, preconfigured devices and coordinated scheduling with clinical teams.
"Governance structures and an intake process ensured expansion requests were prioritized and executed efficiently," she concluded. "By combining technical rigor with operational agility, Piedmont was able to achieve full 24/7 virtual RN coverage systemwide by mid-2024, demonstrating that large-scale virtual nursing implementation is achievable when technology, process and people are aligned."
Katie Nolen's session, "Virtual Nursing: Redefining the Bedside Experience through Virtual Innovation," is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in Palazzo K/Level 5 at HIMSS26 in Las Vegas.
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Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
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