Healthcare IT News reports on how virtual sitter services saved St. Luke’s $1.5M in 2023…

Since initiating the virtual sitting program at St. Luke’s Hospital in November 2021, the organization has had more than 164,842 hours of patient observation. The program uses 16 devices throughout the hospital. Virtual monitoring of patients has improved patient safety through fall reduction and prevention, boosted staff efficiency, and decreased staffing costs by reducing one-to-one sitters.

“Our primary use of virtual sitting is for fall reduction and prevention,” explained Cole Rogers, RN, nurse manager at St. Luke’s. “Fifty-four percent of our patients are admitted to the program for heightened fall risk. We estimate our program prevents 529 falls per month at St. Luke’s. We believe our virtual monitoring program helped us achieve the lowest fall rate in the State of Minnesota for the 3rd quarter of 2023.

Examples of use…

One example is using monitor staff to check in with patients receiving continuous bladder irrigation, instead of the nurse being required to check in with the patient every 15-20 minutes. Another example is using the virtual monitor assistant to encourage patients to drink their bowel prep solution every 15 minutes, again preventing a nurse from having to do this task.

“The cost-effectiveness of our virtual sitter technology compared to traditional methods of one-to-one sitters has been incredibly impactful to St. Luke’s Hospital,” Rogers said. “In 2023, virtual sitter hours accounted for 39.7 FTEs hospital wide, while staffed one-to-one sitters amounted to 8.8 FTEs. For 2023, the annual cost savings from our virtual sitting program is more than $1.5 million dollars.