HELENA — Just over a year ago, St. Peter’s Health says it became the first hospital in Montana to implement virtual nursing as an expansion of the patient care team.

“Being able to bring the virtual nurse in is really about providing support," St. Peter’s Health Chief Nursing Officer Kari Koehler said.

It's support for bedside nurses and patients at all hours of the day.

Watch to learn how St. Peter's Health is using virtual nursing: Montana hospital using virtual nurses to help with burnout

The virtual nursing program was launched to help address the growing shortage of nurses and reduce burnout among the nursing staff. Now, retention of RNs has increased by 50 percent.

“We have a lot of patients that need a lot of things, and sometimes it is really hard to spend half an hour on a

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