Virtual Wards in Acute Care: A Scoping Review of Hospital-Level Care Beyond the Hospital

By
Sophie M. E. van Baar de Knegt
Noortje Zelis
Karin A. H. Kaasjager
Patricia M. Stassen
October 13, 2026

Journal Of General Internal Medicine

Overview

This scoping review maps evidence on technology-enabled virtual wards (VWs) providing hospital-level care at home for adults with acute conditions who would otherwise be admitted or who may be discharged early. It examines intervention design, clinical and safety outcomes, costs, and user experiences; the supplied article excerpt describes the review methods and rationale but does not provide its results.

Background

Hospital-at-home (HAH) provides physician-supervised hospital-level treatment, nursing care, and diagnostics at home for conditions that would otherwise require admission. Virtual wards combine HAH with telemonitoring and in-person and virtual care. The source reports that HAH has been associated with comparable or improved health outcomes, patient satisfaction and comfort, safety, and fewer hospital bed days. Evidence for VWs in acute conditions such as infections was described as limited, despite the substantial contribution of infectious illness to hospital admissions.

Data Highlights

The supplied excerpt reports a scoping review protocol and search scope, but no numerical study results or pooled outcomes.

Review feature	Details reported
Guidance	PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR)
Databases	MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane, Cinahl, Web of Science, and PubMed
Search end date	28 February 2025
Population	Adults aged 18 years or older presenting to the emergency department or admitted with an acute condition
Excluded research	COVID-19, chronic-care prevention, trauma, psychiatry, primary care, hospice, and specified transitional or community care

Key Findings

The review defines VWs as hospital-at-home models delivering technology-enabled hospital-level treatment at home, integrating telemonitoring with in-person and virtual care.
Eligible care was acute, specialized, and short-term, with referrals from emergency departments for admission avoidance or hospital wards for early discharge.
The review sought evidence on intervention design, clinical and safety outcomes, costs, user experiences, and qualitative data.
Searches covered six databases and publications through 28 February 2025; the review was guided by PRISMA-ScR and used narrative synthesis.
The article background reports that VWs had been used in groups including people with COPD, heart failure, and stroke, with positive outcomes and high satisfaction reported in cited studies; the excerpt provides no specific estimates.
A related 2026 scoping review identified 22 studies of technology-enabled VWs for acute care and reported heterogeneous models and outcomes, including escalation of care, mortality, adverse events, and length of stay.

Clinical Implications

The review frames appropriate patient selection and evidence-based service design as prerequisites for expanding VWs in acute care. The supplied excerpt does not report comparative outcome estimates or provide specific eligibility criteria, so it does not support more detailed clinical recommendations.

Conclusion

The source establishes the rationale, scope, and methods for evaluating virtual wards in acute care, but the provided excerpt does not include the review’s results. The related 2026 synthesis likewise describes a heterogeneous evidence base, limiting conclusions from the information supplied.