The UCHealth Centralized Sitter Program was recently implemented across all levels of inpatient care at UCHealth. The program is designed to support bedside teams by allowing nurses and other clinical staff to focus on their primary roles while reducing strain on staffing resources associated with in-person sitter needs.
UCHealth Virtual Health Center (VHC)
By the numbers: Fiscal year 2026
Virtual nursing teams
- 80,000 virtual admissions completed by the virtual admission RN team.
- 4,500 rapid response team incidents (RRTs) identified and called by virtual ICU – represents 27% of all RRTs called for UCHealth.
- 95.4% of all sepsis alerts in inpatient called by VHC.
Safety view digital sitter program
- Over 169,000 interventions provided by the safety view techs for patient safety.
- 9,109 sitter requests processed and addressed by safety view RN since launching Aug. 5, 2025.
- Average daily census of 120 patients across UCHealth.
Telemetry tech role
- Over 1.7 million phone calls received for admissions and discharges for telemetry alone.
- Over 13 million alarms review and mitigated by the telemetry tech staff with an average daily census of 850 patient across UCHealth.
- 152,000 phone calls for admissions, discharges for capnography.
Learn more about the VHC and these programs.
When a patient needs sitter support, nursing teams flag the need in the electronic health record. The UCHealth Virtual Health Center (VHC) serves as the central hub for receiving and coordinating all inpatient sitter requests. Based on each patient’s need, a virtual or in-person sitter is selected.
This standardized process ensures the most appropriate monitoring resource is utilized and includes reassessment of each patient every 12 hours. Virtual sitters monitor the patient remotely from the VHC in metro Denver via cameras, while maintaining close coordination with the bedside care team to support patient safety.
The Centralized Sitter Program first launched in the UCHealth Southern Colorado Region in August 2025 and, since implementation, has resulted in a nearly 20% reduction in acute care in-person sitter utilization.
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The visual companion to our 2026 Nursing Year in Review showcases the print edition’s visual storytelling with connections to all of the articles.