Nursing shortages in the U.S. have been well known for some time. Several reasons cause these shortages. Many nurses are older and retiring. Burnout and stress from COVID-19 have made things worse. Nurses also have many administrative tasks along with patient care. They spend a lot of time writing reports and filling out paperwork. This takes time away from helping patients directly. Because of this, nurses often feel stressed, unhappy with their jobs, and some even leave the profession early.
Hospital leaders and IT staff see that nurses need help. They want solutions that take away repetitive tasks but still keep patient safety strong. Smart hospital technologies, such as Artisight’s AI system, aim to fix these problems. They do this by automating tasks and improving communication in real time.
WellSpan Health decided to use the Artisight Smart Hospital Platform to solve nursing problems. This system uses AI, computer vision, voice recognition, and sensors to support nurses in many ways. It mainly has two features:
This platform cuts down the time nurses spend on paperwork and monitoring. This frees up more time for direct patient care. WellSpan’s data shows that nurses save about 30 minutes each shift. They can use this time to care for patients, teach them, or talk with team members.
When WellSpan started using the Artisight platform, nurse job satisfaction got better. Stress levels also went down. After using the platform, 86% of nurses said they felt safer at work with the AI system. Many nurses said they felt better about their jobs and less stressed by the workload.
Alisha Wike, a nurse using the system, said, “When I finish my shift as a Virtual Nurse, I feel I did a good job… it has helped me feel less stressed.” Spending more quality time with patients, especially teaching and personal care, helped improve how nurses felt about their work.
The study also showed that nurses felt more interested in their jobs again. Doing fewer repetitive tasks let them focus on what matters most—their clinical work. This can help keep nurses from leaving their jobs, which is important because many places have a shortage and high turnover.
The AI system helped more than just nurse feelings. It also made patient safety better, which affects how nurses feel and how hospitals are rated. The Virtual Observer feature helped lower patient falls by 52% during a test program in August 2023 at WellSpan.
Lower fall rates are important because falls can hurt patients and add extra work for nurses. When nurses get alerts from the system, they can act quickly to stop accidents. For example, the Virtual Observer spotted a patient having trouble breathing and started emergency steps. This prevented the situation from getting worse.
Communication between nurses and patients also got better. Patient satisfaction scores about nurse communication went up from the 20th to the 56th percentile after using the system. During patient discharge, satisfaction rose from the 26th to the 56th percentile. This shows that workflows improved and nurses could focus more on patient needs.
The Artisight system also cut down sitter hours a lot. Sitters stay with patients who need constant supervision to prevent falls or injuries. Using the smart platform, WellSpan lowered sitter hours by 92%. This saved a lot of staff time and hospital money.
With this change, nursing leaders could put staff where they were needed most. AI helped by handling routine monitoring, so nurses had more time for harder, urgent tasks. This also helped reduce nurse tiredness. Good staff allocation is very important, especially with limited budgets and staff shortages.
The main power of AI in smart hospital systems like Artisight is automating and improving workflows.
With automation, AI supports nurses without replacing their judgment. It acts like an extra set of eyes and ears. Hospitals can use nursing staff better while keeping care quality high.
For hospital leaders and IT managers in the U.S., using AI for workflow automation is an important investment. It helps keep the workforce stable and improves patient outcomes.
WellSpan Health’s experience shows some key points for hospital and clinic leaders:
Leaders should carefully think about how to add AI hospital platforms. The system should fit the clinical needs and priorities of their facility. Artisight’s system can be customized for different places, which makes it easier to use.
Using smart hospital technology is an important step to reduce nurse workload and improve care quality in U.S. hospitals. Data from WellSpan Health shows these systems can help nurses feel better about their jobs, lower stress, and focus more on their work. These changes help both patients and healthcare organizations.
WellSpan Health, an integrated delivery system serving Central Pennsylvania and northern Maryland, implemented the Artisight Smart Hospital Platform to modernize nurse staffing and reduce nursing workload.
WellSpan Health faced a critical nursing shortage exacerbated by an aging workforce, nurse departures driven by COVID-19 stress, heavy workloads, and limited work-life balance, which strained their nursing staff significantly.
WellSpan deployed Artisight’s Virtual Observer, which monitors patients for safety, fall prevention, and confusion signs, and Virtual Nursing, which supports documentation, assessments, and patient education to reduce nurses’ administrative burden.
The platform uses AI-driven sensors, computer vision, voice recognition, vital sign monitoring, and indoor positioning combined with actionable analytics to capture real-time data, automate repetitive tasks, monitor patient safety, and extend nursing capabilities.
The platform enabled a 52% reduction in patient fall rates by providing real-time monitoring and quick response capabilities to prevent accidents.
The use of virtual monitoring resulted in a 92% reduction in median 1:1 sitter hours, drastically lowering the need for in-person sitters and optimizing nursing staff allocation.
Patient satisfaction at discharge rose from the 26th to the 56th percentile, and nurse communication improved from the 20th to the 56th percentile, indicating better engagement and communication enabled by the platform.
Examples include Virtual Observer detecting respiratory distress leading to rapid response, identifying a visitor violating dietary orders, and Virtual Nurse alerting staff when a patient removed their IV during an elopement attempt, preventing harm.
86% of nursing staff reported improved safety, and nurses expressed reduced stress, renewed passion for their profession, and satisfaction from spending more uninterrupted time with patients due to reduced administrative tasks.
WellSpan plans to expand the Artisight Smart Hospital Platform system-wide, covering 1,000 patient beds, to further enhance nursing efficiency, patient safety, and staff engagement across its health system.
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