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.

Kari Koehler, the chief nursing officer at St. Pete’s, said, “Being able to bring the virtual nurse in is really about providing support.” Support for bedside nurses and patients at all hours of the day.

Madelyn Heath reports - watch the video: 'Virtual nurses' at St. Peter's Health

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.

Nurse Paige Plancich said, “We have a lot of patients that need a lot of things, and sometimes it is really hard to spend half an hour on an admission or a half

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