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For all the debate about artificial intelligence in health care, one quietly transformative shift is taking place not through machines, but through video calls.
A growing number of U.S. hospitals are now using virtual nurses to handle admissions and discharges remotely.
The promise? Relief for burnt-out bedside nurses, better care coordination and fewer patients bouncing back to the hospital within weeks.
A new study by doctoral student Blair Liu ’26 (PhD) and operations professors Yuqian Xu and Brad Staats at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School offers a comprehensive evaluation of this model.
Their verdict is striking: Virtual nursing cuts average inpatient length of stay by more than 7% and reduces readmission rates by around 2%. For overstretched U.S. health systems staring down a 300,000-nurse shortfall by 2027, this could mark an important inflection point.