Exploring the competencies Nurses need to work in virtual wards : a literature Review
Ndongfack, Sidoline; Shiri, Mary (2025)
2025
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025051612346
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025051612346
Tiivistelmä
Technological advancement has immensely impacted healthcare and nursing, especially in telehealth. The adoption of telehealth services has surged as healthcare systems adopt novel technologies to improve care delivery practices. One of the crucial outcomes of telehealth is virtual wards. Virtual wards enable the delivery of hospital-level healthcare at home. To substantiate this, nurses must accumulate the necessary competencies and skills to ensure the care they provide remains high quality, as it would have been if the patient had visited the facility in person. This research attempts to determine and classify the areas of knowledge and skills that nurses need to learn to practice in virtual wards.
Adopting a literature review methodology, the research integrates current literature on nursing competencies in virtual healthcare settings. Peer-reviewed articles from the past decade are analysed to determine dominant themes, such as digital literacy, remote clinical decision-making, telecommunication skills, patient engagement strategies, and virtual care ethics. The PRISMA framework will facilitate an open selection and analysis process.
The findings from this study likely contribute to the education, professional development of nursing, and policy-making with a comprehensive competency framework for virtual ward nurses. The study also sheds light on the existing gap in their training and develops strategies to improve the nurses’ preparedness within these digital health settings. This research tries to address issues in competencies nurses need to work in virtual care settings; therefore, the study contributes to creating evidence-based practice guidelines that promise quality remote nursing.
Keywords: Virtual wards, nursing competencies, nursing, remote patient care, digital healthcare, telehealth, nurses, remote patient monitoring, nurses' competencies.
Adopting a literature review methodology, the research integrates current literature on nursing competencies in virtual healthcare settings. Peer-reviewed articles from the past decade are analysed to determine dominant themes, such as digital literacy, remote clinical decision-making, telecommunication skills, patient engagement strategies, and virtual care ethics. The PRISMA framework will facilitate an open selection and analysis process.
The findings from this study likely contribute to the education, professional development of nursing, and policy-making with a comprehensive competency framework for virtual ward nurses. The study also sheds light on the existing gap in their training and develops strategies to improve the nurses’ preparedness within these digital health settings. This research tries to address issues in competencies nurses need to work in virtual care settings; therefore, the study contributes to creating evidence-based practice guidelines that promise quality remote nursing.
Keywords: Virtual wards, nursing competencies, nursing, remote patient care, digital healthcare, telehealth, nurses, remote patient monitoring, nurses' competencies.