In the vibrant heart of New Orleans, the Collette Health team joined nursing leaders from across the nation at this year’s American Nurses Association ANCC National Magnet Conference. The Collette team was thrilled to showcase our virtual care solutions while engaging in meaningful conversations about the future of nursing innovation. Through live demonstrations, we highlighted how our virtual nursing, virtual patient observation, and virtual workforce augmentation solutions are helping organizations address some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges.
Our Chief Nursing Officer, Dr. Christine Gall, participated in numerous presentations and connected with nursing leaders throughout the conference. Through these rich discussions and exchanges, three fundamental themes emerged that are shaping the future of nursing. Each of these themes resonates deeply with our mission at Collette Health to support and elevate the nursing profession while improving patient outcomes.
#1 Empowering Nurses Through Shared Governance and Innovation
Year after year, nursing ranks as America’s most trusted profession—and for good reason. It takes individuals with exceptional dedication to excel in this field, where excellence and patient advocacy aren’t just goals but daily commitments. This dedication was on full display throughout this year’s Magnet Conference, evident in every session, hallway conversation, and gathering across New Orleans as nurses came together to celebrate and advance their profession.
The ongoing commitment to shared governance remained front and center throughout the conference, reinforcing how nursing organizations continue to prioritize professional practice environments where bedside nurses have a direct voice in decisions affecting patient care. This time-tested model ensures that those closest to care delivery maintain a leading role in organizational decision-making. Through this collaborative approach, frontline nurses continue to shape policies, procedures, and innovations that impact daily operations.
This shared decision-making model came to life throughout the conference presentations. Staff nurses showcased impressive programs they had developed from initial concept to full implementation, with support from their leaders, demonstrating their ability to drive meaningful improvements in quality, safety, and workflow efficiency.
#2 Reimagining Workforce Sustainability and Well-being
The healthcare industry’s strengthened commitment to nurse well-being took center stage at the Magnet Conference. The phrase “caring for the caregiver” echoed through presentation halls and breakout sessions, highlighting the critical importance of supporting nurses’ emotional, mental, and physical well-being. It was energizing to witness the endless commitment that nurses at all levels had to build resilience and break down the barriers that inhibit the high-quality care that their patients need and deserve.A key strategy emerging from the conference focuses on building and maintaining resilience through improved workflows. Many nursing workflows have iteratively added lower-level, repetitive, and non-value added tasks that increase the indirect aspects of care that pull nurses from the bedside. Forward-thinking organizations are actively reimagining clinical workflows, leveraging human-centered AI and virtual support systems through partnerships with organizations like Collette Health, to streamline admissions, discharges, rounding, patient education, and more. These strategies are designed to support nurses at the bedside to manage their patients with increasing care complexity by bringing additional resources to support quality patient care.
The partnership of the virtual and bedside nurse ensures that the patient has intensive, uninterrupted care and support during critical points in their hospitalization—when they first arrive and are being updated on the plan for their hospital admission; throughout their stay as they need information and education on the status of their health and the treatments that are prescribed for them; and at discharge when they are preparing to transition back to their home setting.
Perhaps one of the most innovative approaches to emerge is the development of hybrid nursing roles. Healthcare organizations are creating positions that allow experienced nurses to split their time between direct patient care and support roles, such as mentoring novice nurses or supporting quality improvement initiatives. This creative staffing model serves multiple purposes: it preserves the invaluable expertise of seasoned nurses while balancing the physical demands of bedside nursing. Just as importantly, it resonates with the next generation of nurses who seek diverse experiences early in their careers. By offering flexible roles across multiple inpatient units simultaneously, organizations are addressing the interests of many of the new generation workforce to develop expertise with multiple patient populations. Creating hybrid roles can mitigate turnover by expanding nurses’ practice environments without the need to change jobs.
#3 Leveraging Technology to Enhance Patient and Staff and Safety
Safety remains a paramount concern in healthcare, particularly as organizations face the dual challenge of increasing patient complexity and a workforce shortage. Virtual observation technologies are emerging as essential tools in this landscape, enabling healthcare teams to maintain vigilant patient monitoring while optimizing nursing workflow efficiency. These solutions allow nurses to focus their direct patient care time more effectively, ensuring both safety and quality of care are maintained even during periods of peak demand.
Equally as significant is how these technologies are being reimagined to address another critical safety concern: workplace violence against healthcare workers. In a profession where 80 percent of nurses have experienced workplace violence at some point in their careers—the highest rate of non-fatal workplace violence across all industries—protecting staff is a top priority. While initially implemented for patient monitoring, virtual observation tools are showing remarkable potential in deterring and mitigating violent incidents. These systems are being integrated into comprehensive safety protocols, creating additional layers of protection for healthcare workers while maintaining the therapeutic environment essential for patient care.
As we reflect on these insights, one thing becomes clear: the nursing profession continues to evolve while staying true to its core mission of providing exceptional patient care. The convergence of shared governance, workforce sustainability, and technological innovation we witnessed at the National Magnet Conference points to a future where nurses are better supported, safer, and more empowered than ever before.
As Dr. Gall observed throughout the conference, the spirit of the Daisy Award is alive and well. Conference attendees exemplified the characteristics of the award that was established to celebrate the extraordinary compassion nurses provide their patients and families every day. Dr. Gall also commented that the level of engagement in sharing of innovative ideas to improve patient care, outcomes, and experience of care permeated the conference, proving that when we combine the timeless dedication of nurses with emerging innovation and supportive leadership structures, we create an environment where both caregivers and patients thrive.
At Collette Health, we’re proud to be part of this transformation. Through our virtual care solutions, we’re helping organizations address these critical challenges. The path forward requires continued collaboration between healthcare organizations, technology partners, frontline staff, and nursing leaders—a powerful combination that will continue to advance the nursing profession while preserving its fundamental commitment to compassionate, high-quality patient care.
