The Emerging Role of Virtual Nursing and Remote Patient Monitoring in Forensic Medicine: ANarrative Review.

Abstract

Virtual nursing and remote patient monitoring (RPM) are transforming healthcare delivery, with growing relevance to forensic medicine. This narrative review synthesizes evidence from 2016–2026 on their integration into forensic nursing, teleSANE (telehealth Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) services, violence documentation, correctional health, and forensic psychiatry. Key applications include real-time remote guidance for medical-forensic examinations, hub-and-spoke telehealth models that expand access in rural and underserved areas, passive and active RPM in high-secure settings, and augmented-reality–assisted evidence collection. Benefits encompass improved quality of care, higher provider confidence, reduced patient transfer, enhanced evidence integrity, and better equity of access. Challenges include technological, legal, ethical, privacy, staffing, and sustainability barriers, as well as questions of evidence admissibility and medicolegal liability. Two tables summarize model comparisons and outcome domains; two conceptual figures illustrate the teleforensic workflow and an integrated virtual nursing–RPM framework. Overall, virtual modalities show strong promise for advancing trauma-informed, patient-centered forensic practice while requiring robust standards, training, evaluation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Further rigorous research on patient outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and legal robustness is essential