Virtunurse
In his 15 years of being a registered nurse, Matthew Jubelius has witnessed the amount of people who don’t have a doctor or access to healthcare. And he worked alongside many team members who experienced burnout from the demand of people who require healthcare support.
More than 6.5 million Canadians do not have regular access to primary care (Canadian Medical Association, 2023). These potential patients have no choice but to go to a walk-in clinic or an emergency room, leaving people waiting hours to receive support.
Being surrounded by this environment for far too long, Jubelius launched Virtunurse. The virtual nursing clinic allows registered nurses to assess patients and help them navigate effectively through the health system. In addition to the virtual clinic services, Jubelius is currently working on solutions to increase care access across Canada, United States, and globally.
Potential patients can go to the website, read the descriptions of each registered nurse, book an appointment, and meet virtually. This eliminates driving time, waiting time, and taking time away from the house or office. Because of how it’s all set-up, patients can choose their nurse, build a professional relationship and continue to meet with the same one every time.
“I felt this is something our community needs, and surrounding areas definitely need. It all comes back to the importance of people having access to care. Nurses are intelligent, highly capable, and deeply care about helping people. There are many health-related concerns that a registered nurse can assess and perform that do not need a doctor,” says Jubelius.
Virtunurse is also set-up to help patients with mental wellness support and offers businesses subscription services for both streams of support. Virtunurse supports small and medium-sized companies that may not have the budget to have an in-house registered nurse. Convenience and continuity are the primary goals that Virtunurse wants both the registered nurses and patients to benefit from. The company provides that clear boundary and is here to help, and something that really separates Virtunurse from other healthcare providers is the timeliness to access mental health and wellness support.
“Although it’s virtual, it’s still face-to-face. Virtunurse is about continuity and building relationships with patients. That is something that still carries a lot of weight. We see patients who come to us as human beings who need support. Us being able to provide that is a privilege,” says Jubelius. “For me, this is ultimately about doing some good in the world.”
The business owner has been a registered nurse since 2007. Based on his passion for healthcare and helping others, he was provided the opportunity to start his clinical career in advanced practice nursing at the University of Alberta Hospital in a specialized Cardiovascular ICU (Intensive Care Unit).
The team provided care for critically ill people, including heart and lung transplants. He then moved to a general systems ICU, then served as a nursing instructor, manager, director, and in other clinical roles, including mental, community, and occupational health nursing. One of his career highlights is being nationally selected by the Department of National Defence to work with scientific and medical teams to assist with the safety and security of Canadians.
“I started Virtunurse for several reasons based on my professional experiences in our community, such as no local doctors currently accepting new patients, people calling EMS, and waiting in the Emergency Department for hours with non-critical health needs. Hearing that two of our walk-in clinics are oversubscribed daily before 9 a.m., seeing repeated national news stories showing that the healthcare system is broken, the nursing shortage, and exploring if there will ever be an end to this nightmare compelled me to do something about it,” says Jubelius.
APEX Alberta has helped Jubelius with confidence, professional guidance, program offerings, business incubators, and introducing him to others to expand Virtunurse. When he works with the APEX team, he feels they believe in Virtunurse and want to help it succeed.
“When I first brought the idea to Tracy Stroud (regional innovation network manager, APEX Alberta), I’ll never forget her expression and enthusiasm, saying, ‘you've really got something here,’” he says.
All Virtunurse clinical experiences meet privacy and security legislation through the Health Information Act. This was very important to Jubelius, so everything is secure.