Podcast Summary

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Episode: How Virtual Nursing Is Reshaping Med Surge Care at The Christ Hospital
Date: February 6, 2026
Host: Laura Deardo
Guests:

• Julie Holt, Chief Nursing Officer and VP of Patient Care Services
• Paula Campbell, Chief Nursing Information Officer
  Organization: The Christ Hospital Health Network

Episode Overview

This episode delves into how The Christ Hospital Health Network is leveraging virtual nursing to transform care delivery on its medical-surgical (med surg) units. Chief Nursing Officer Julie Holt and Chief Nursing Information Officer Paula Campbell share their experiences with virtual models, discuss the challenges and successes in implementation—especially amid staffing shortages—and look ahead to future opportunities and obstacles in virtual nursing and healthcare technology.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Rationale for Virtual Nursing

• The Christ Hospital is a smaller provider in Cincinnati with one main quaternary hospital (500+ beds).
• The pandemic exposed and worsened the ongoing nursing shortage, particularly in med surg units.
• Anticipating future shortages due to an aging population and workforce, leadership sought technology-based solutions.
• Quote:

  “We thought now is the time to come up with a new care delivery model to help support med surg delivery, particularly since that's been an area nationally where I think we've all struggled with staffing.”
  — Julie Holt [03:21]

2. Virtual Nursing Model Implementation

• Virtual nurses (experienced RNs) are assigned to augment bedside teams: 2 virtual nurses per ~30 beds.

• Piloted on three med surg units; nurses given targeted orientation and workflow distinction.

• Focus areas included safety (bed alarms, fall prevention) and supporting new graduate nurses.

• Quote:

  “We've been able to fill positions that were open for many, many years through the pandemic... And for our new graduates, we wanted to see a decrease in our first year turnover, which is another national problem. And we have seen that as well because these experienced nurses are there and able to help mentor them.”
  — Julie Holt [05:38]

3. Measured Outcomes and Early Benefits

• Successful filling of chronic staff vacancies.
• Improved bedside safety protocol adherence and reduced first-year nurse turnover due to experienced mentoring.
• Improved capacity to monitor and support patients with fewer onsite RNs.
• Overall positive initial results from year one of virtual care delivery.

4. Future Expansion and Priorities for 2026

• Plans to scale the virtual nursing model to more med surg and step-down units, then to women’s health (where the skill set is specialized and hard to retain).

• Exploring use of virtual modalities for other specialties: anesthesiologists (pre-op), case managers (discharge), and diabetes educators.

• Technology optimization to enable broader telehealth services:

  “We have 85 cameras in rooms that we can immediately turn on for Telecity. That is just unbelievable. That would actually increase our fleet of being able to deliver Telecity by 500%.”
  — Paula Campbell [08:29]

• Desire to serve as a beta test site for evolving virtual care software.

5. Challenges: Funding, ROI, and Change Management

• Funding for technology investments, with pressure to show hard ROI.

• Much of the value is in “soft ROI”—quality improvements, nurse retention, expanded work years for older nurses, not just cost-savings.

• Reference to broader health IT challenges, such as adoption of ambient voice documentation software.

• Quote:

  “It's more of a soft ROI from a quality perspective, from the reduction of turnover, from being able to...reduce your vacancy because you're expanding the work years for nurses who may be older and not able to take care of patients anymore at the bedside, but you want to keep their brain engaged...”
  — Julie Holt [09:38]

• Cost avoidance becomes a major focus as programs mature.

6. Opportunities for Organizational and Industry Growth

• Standardizing Virtual Care Nationwide: Expanding this model more broadly could redefine the nursing standard of care across the U.S.
• Influencing Education: Early exposure to virtual care in nursing school curricula to reduce the learning curve for new grads.
• Research and Benchmarking: Studying both internal and external implementations to identify best practices among emerging virtual care models.
• Role Recognition: Advocacy for the Chief Nursing Informatics Officer position as essential to successful tech/nurse collaboration.

  “It surprises me when I speak nationally how many organizations do not have a chief nursing informatics officer. For me, as an experienced CNO, Paula is invaluable.”
  — Julie Holt [13:12]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|----------------------|-------| | 03:21 | Julie Holt | “We thought now is the time to come up with a new care delivery model to help support med surg delivery…” | | 05:38 | Julie Holt | “We've been able to fill positions that were open for many, many years through the pandemic ...And for our new graduates... we have seen [a decrease in first-year turnover] as well because these experienced nurses are there and able to help mentor them.” | | 08:29 | Paula Campbell | “We have 85 cameras in rooms that we can immediately turn on for Telecity. That is just unbelievable. That would actually increase our fleet of being able to deliver Telecity by 500%.” | | 09:38 | Julie Holt | “It's more of a soft ROI...from reduction of turnover ...because you're expanding the work years for nurses who may be older and not able to take care of patients anymore at the bedside, but you want to keep their brain engaged...” | | 13:12 | Julie Holt | “It surprises me when I speak nationally how many organizations do not have a chief nursing informatics officer. For me, as an experienced CNO, Paula is invaluable.” |

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:13–02:17] Guest introductions and organizational context
• [02:17–04:33] Why virtual nursing, pandemic impacts, and initial model goals
• [05:19–06:48] Implementation details and observed impacts
• [06:48–08:46] Plans for expansion and optimization of technology
• [09:15–10:58] Challenges with funding and quantifying value
• [11:44–13:12] Industry-wide opportunities and the importance of nursing informatics leadership

Conclusion

This episode provides a rich, real-world look at how virtual nursing is being implemented to address critical workforce challenges, with The Christ Hospital Health Network at the forefront. The leadership team is honest about both the operational wins and unresolved hurdles—and they advocate for industry-wide evolution in technology adoption, standards, and nursing education to support sustainable, high-quality care for the future.