Bedside teams are swamped — and with so many patients, it can be impossible to know where to focus their attention. Virtual sitters can help.
Virtual patient sitter services from Hicuity Health help support patient safety without placing additional strain on in-person resources. By leveraging vigilant patient safety observation professionals, hospitals can extend their sitter capabilities to readily support evolving census levels, patient risk profiles, and staffing needs.
“In a busy facility setting where nurses are constantly juggling priorities, virtual sitters keep an eye on patients who are at risk for events like falls, elopements, and other adverse events,” says Hicuity Health RN and Virtual Sitter Trainer, Latisha Johnson. “This type of partnership offers a cost-effective way to provide 24/7 observation for every patient who needs it, helping bedside staff deliver timely, effective care.”
Want to learn more about how virtual safety monitoring from Hicuity Health can support your organization? Here’s everything you need to know.
What are the features of virtual sitter services?
Hicuity Health’s virtual sitter services deliver remote audio-video patient monitoring in support of bedside teams — while driving up to 80% cost savings.
That means:
- Remote safety monitoring: Continuous, diligent remote safety monitoring to identify, circumvent, and/or escalate patient safety issues.
- Risk event mitigation: Including, but not limited to slips, trips, and falls, elopement, delirium, confusion, self-harm, harm from visitors, and disordered eating.
- Patient observation documentation: Detailed documentation of patient safety concerns and identified risk events.
- Safety rounds: Routine documentation of patient behavior in addition to safety concerns
- On-demand monitoring support: Available 24/7/365 to add patients to your virtual sitter census
How does Hicuity’s virtual sitter service improve patient care?
Bedside teams are often juggling many patients at once, and a virtual sitter can provide an important extra set of eyes and ears. Virtual sitters can help circumvent safety events before they happen, and can rapidly engage the bedside when they do.
For example, Johnson shared how in one instance, it was observed that a patient pulled out their subclavian line. Johnson described how the bedside nurse was overwhelmed with other tasks and was so grateful we identified the issue, because it allowed her to intervene before the situation became life-threatening. Latisha shares, “The sincere gratitude felt and expressed by the patient, their family, and the bedside nurse left a lasting impression that remains with me today. Moments like this remind me how valuable virtual patient sitting can be.”
Virtual sitting is a great application for patients that are low-to-moderate fall risks, who wouldn’t normally receive a 1:1 sitter, but would greatly benefit from virtual sitter. This approach has contributed to one Hicuity Health partner’s 78% improvement in falls/injury outcomes.
How do you ensure your virtual sitters have the skills to succeed?
Every virtual sitter at Hicuity Health must earn Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) Verbal Intervention™ and Patient Safety Attendant competency. After they complete their training, they receive additional mentoring and supervision to ensure vigilance, effective technology use, and adherence to protocol on an ongoing basis.
“I also pay attention to their attitude and approach to their work,” Johnson says. “It’s important that sitters are motivated to promote safety and take their responsibilities seriously.”
What systems, platforms, and equipment do your virtual sitters use?
Hicuity Health works with major virtual sitter technology vendors and can utilize your existing or preferred video conferencing platforms, remote patient monitoring systems, devices and wearables, and electronic medical records (EMRs).
We can also offer insight to guide you in selecting trusted vendor solutions.
For directing Admit, Discharge, and Transfer (ADT) data to our monitoring center, all we require is an outbound ADT interface (HL7).
How do you approach privacy, security, and compliance?
Hicuity treats privacy, security, and compliance with utmost seriousness, utilizing collaborative workflows and technical capabilities.
The bedside obtains consent for virtual sitter monitoring and no video is stored as part of our service. There is also, with proper hand-off, the opportunity to put the patient on “privacy mode” so they are able to have conversations or be bathed in private.
Furthermore, Hicuity Health is a System and Organization Controls (SOC)-certified, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant, Joint Commission-accredited organization. We maintain rigorous security protocols and carry a strong track record of protecting patient data.
Still, we also understand that we must earn your trust and respect. Our relationships with patients, hospitals, other healthcare providers, public and private third-party payors, business partners, customers, suppliers, regulators, and our own Hicuity Health team members reflect the highest of ethical standards.
Can virtual patient sitters flex to fit any organization’s workflows?
Yes. Hicuity Health’s virtual patient services ensure seamless integration with your healthcare facility’s preferred workflows and escalation paths, systems (e.g., software, hardware, monitoring equipment, security and compliance protocols), and patient care philosophy.
What about communication?
Hicuity Health seeks to utilize the communication pathways and technology that already exists or readily exists via the sitter monitoring platform – whether texting, phone, overhead page, and in-room alerts. The goal is timely, crisp, and clear communication to engage and alert the right person so they can intervene in a timely manner.
How time-consuming is onboarding?
Dedicated project managers chart the course for clinical and technical teams while keeping everyone aligned, making implementation and onboarding simple. The process can take as little as two months.
Ready to consider a new approach to virtual sitter support?
Virtual sitter support is at its best when it’s designed to support bedside teams, reduce operational strain, and improve patient safety.
With a managed, scalable approach to continuous virtual monitoring, healthcare organizations can improve vigilance without adding complexity or burden to already stretched staff. Contact Hicuity to learn more about our virtual sitter services and how we partner with care teams to strengthen safety, efficiency, and clinical confidence across the board.
