North Mississippi
Health Services
Returning 700+ Nursing Hours to the Bedside Every Month
North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS) partnered with Vitalchat to scale a system-wide virtual nursing model that absorbs admissions, discharges, safety monitoring, and clinical audits, freeing bedside nurses to focus on hands-on care. By embedding experienced virtual nurses into multidisciplinary rounds and standardizing workflows across a 450-bed flagship hospital and seven community hospitals, NMHS turned a post-COVID staffing crisis into a measurable operational advantage.
The result is a hospital-wide model that returns 700+ nursing hours to the floor each month, accelerates discharge throughput, and is on track to reduce nursing turnover by 33% across FY25–FY26.
Proven Impact At Scale
Hours Returned
To bedside care each month from virtual admissions and discharges.
Virtual Discharges
Of inpatient discharges now completed by the virtual nursing team.
Annual Sitter Savings
In recurring staffing costs from virtual safety monitoring.
The Challenge
Healthcare systems like NMHS were facing mounting pressure across every part of the inpatient experience.
Post-COVID nursing shortages and burnout across licensed and non-licensed staff
Time-intensive admission and discharge workflows pulling nurses away from bedside care
~12 one-on-one safety sitters required per day, driving recurring labor costs
Compliance gaps in patient education (stroke education sitting at 65%)
Inconsistent workflows across a flagship hospital and seven community hospitals
- Traditional staffing models could not scale to meet demand.
The Solution
NMHS implemented a hospital-wide virtual nursing model powered by Vitalchat, deploying in-room cameras across 232+ rooms and building a centralized virtual care team of experienced nurses operating remotely from home.
Key Components
Cameras, microphones, and AI deployed across 232+ inpatient rooms
Centralized virtual care team of 12 day-shift nurses and 2 night-shift nurses, all NMHS employees with 10+ years of experience
Care team model: 1 virtual nurse per 25 beds, integrated into multidisciplinary rounds
"Doorbell" privacy controls so patients confirm each camera entry; no sessions recorded or stored
Standardized workflows across units to support coverage and floater rotation
What Virtual Nurses Support
Admissions and discharges
24/7 safety rounds, including overnight coverage
Stroke education and patient teaching
Clinical audits: Foley care, restraint documentation, central line care
Multidisciplinary rounding with pharmacists, physicians, and case management
Remote sitter monitoring across community hospitals
The Approach
Foundation
NMHS launched a virtual sitter pilot in August 2022, using non-licensed staff and Surface Pro carts to validate the operating model and build clinical buy-in for remote monitoring.
Virtual Nursing Pilot
Expanded to virtual nursing in April 2023 across 44 in-room cameras and 48 rolling-cart rooms, focused initially on discharges before adding admissions and safety rounds.
Vendor Selection & EMR Integration
Selected Vitalchat as the long-term platform in December 2023, began in-room camera installation, and launched Epic EMR for unified clinical workflows. Stroke education compliance climbed from 65% to 97% within months.
Care Team Model
Deployed the 1:25 virtual nurse staffing ratio in May 2025, standardized workflows across all units, integrated virtual nurses into multidisciplinary rounds, and added nighttime safety coverage.
System-Wide Expansion
Completing inpatient camera installation across 232+ rooms, extending to the women's hospital and observation unit, and building an on-site tele-ICU command center to support community hospitals.
It gives our bedside nurses uninterrupted time with their patients. That's what they got into nursing for.
A Blueprint for the Future of Care Delivery
North Mississippi Health Services has demonstrated that:
Virtual nursing scales when workflows are standardized across units, not bolted on
Short pilots with bedside-nurse input drive faster adoption than top-down rollouts
EMR integration is non-negotiable, since standalone tools create friction that erodes clinical trust
Virtual care augments, not replaces, the bedside team
Transform Care On Your Terms
Vitalchat delivers a flexible virtual care platform designed to improve outcomes across the continuum, from hospital to home.