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I believe that virtual nursing avatars could be a great benefit for nurses as well as the patients in many different health care settings. Direct patient care nurses willing to use technology to enhance their care of the patient could use the avatars in a way that is relation-ally relevant to each particular patient as well as have a much better work/life balance if used to bridge care gaps and enhance time management of nursing tasks.  For administrative nurses, consistency is one of the keys to improvement. The use of nursing avatar technology could provide consistency to the part of the nursing process that human interaction is not able to provide.  This could be leveraged to determine areas to target for improvement activities.

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Literature suggests that patient self-reported compliance with avatar’s lifestyle suggestions and healthy eating suggestions has been as high as 89% to 100%.   One must note though, that this has been self-reported, and critics question this rate and say that it is easier to lie in computer-mediated environments.  From a nursing perspective the use of this technology could allow nurses to focus their time on non-repetitive tasks and  better use of their critical thinking skills, allowing the technology to supplement patient interactions, potentially reinforcing and building a better patient centered health care team.

One concern regarding the continued development and us of virtual nursing avatars includes speculation about the future role of human nurses.  There are extreme models that suggest that human nurses might be fully replaced by a combination of virtual nursing avatars and robotics.  More conservative models suggest that avatars will be used to supplement and fill any supply and demand gaps.

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Avatar’s and avatar applications are generated by computer software and are a recent innovation in healthcare.  This form of technology includes activities such as collecting patient information, coaching patients in lifestyle changes and issuing hospital discharge instructions.

Virtual nurse avatars, also known as “relational agents” are being used to supplement patient care that has traditionally been provided by nurses in healthcare settings.  Areas of nursing that avatars have been studied include discharge instruction and teaching, care management health interventions for chronic pain, depression and diabetes.

Sense.ly is start-up company that offers a wide range of health care technology services including, Sense.ly's virtual nurse avatar that integrates speech recognition, body recognition, video and medical devices in order to communicate with a healthcare provider or care manager.

http://sensely.com/

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Abbott, M. B., & Shaw, P. (2016, August 15).  Virtual nursing avatars: Nurse roles and evolving concepts of care.  Retrieved from http:www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol-21-2016/No3-Spet-2016/Articles-Previous-Topics/Virtual-Nursing-Avatars.html doi:10.3912/OJIN.vol21No03PPT39,05
Sensely | How are you feeling today? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sensely.com/

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Virtual Nursing Avatars: Nurse Roles and Evolving Concepts of Care 

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Virtual Nursing Avatars: Nurse Roles and Evolving Concepts of Care 

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(published August 15, 2016)
Authors:
Miriam Bowers Abbott, MA, BA, Instructor of Ethics and English Composition in the Online RN to BSN program at Mount Carmel College of Nursing in Columbus, OH.
Her educational background includes an MA and a BA in philosophy with an emphasis on moral reasoning and logic.
Peggy Shaw, MSN, RN  Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Online RN to BSN program at Mount Carmel College of Nursing. Ms. Shaw recently has received the Innovation in Nursing Education Award from the Ohio League of Nursing and the Mount Carmel Excellence in Nursing Award