JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Regulatory and professional nursing associations have an important role in ensuring that nurses provide safe, competent and ethical care and are capable of adapting to emerging trends that influence society and population health needs. Telehealth and more recently virtual care are two digital health modalities that have gained momentum during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite nurses’ engagement and adaptability to delivering virtual care, many also reported challenges.

Objective:

To describe resources about virtual care and digital health available to Canadian nurses through their regulatory and professional associations.

Methods:

An environmental scan was conducted between March 2023 – July 2023. The websites of nursing regulatory bodies across 13 Canadian provinces and territories, relevant nursing and a few non-nursing professional associations were searched. Information from each source was summarized to describe the current state.

Results:

Practice guidance for delivering telehealth existed before the Covid-19 pandemic and was further expanded during the pandemic. Differences were noted across available resources with respect to terms used (e.g., telenursing/telehealth/virtual care), types of documents (e.g., guideline vs. fact sheet), and in the depth of information shared. Only two associations provided comprehensive telenursing practice guidelines. Resources relative to digital health and nursing informatics also exist, but variations between provinces were also noted.

Conclusions:

The use of telehealth and virtual care services is becoming mainstream in Canadian healthcare. Despite variations across jurisdictions, the existing nursing practice guidance resources for delivering telehealth and virtual care are significant and can serve as a beginning step for developing a standardized set of practice requirements or competencies to inform nursing practice and the education of future nurses.