Telemetry info

kenya1005 · Feb 25, 2014

I work in Tele. We do vitals every four hours (at least), you'll learn how to hook up Tele monitors, adls, toileting, glucose checks. Some places you also do stat ekgs. Not sure what you mean by transfer.. we get a lot of different types of patients and transfers are the same as anywhere else. Night shift you could have anywhere from 10 to 20 patients. Day shift we have 7 patients on a good day... up to 15 on a really bad day but that's the extreme. I really enjoy it. You'll learn a lot about heart related stuff (chf, open heart surgery, heart caths, etc) if you're open to it.

melcolbstorm · Feb 25, 2014

Awesome!!!Thanks for the info!!! What I meant by transfers is...when I worked in the nursing home, there was no team work and often you were left alone to transfer patients almost 200 lbs, a safety issue for ALL!!! So I have be terrified about transfers. In the hospitals--is it the same???

kenya1005 · Feb 28, 2014

Oh okay. Our hospital is actually huge on safety. We all help each other. We don't have a lot of hoyers etc so it's mostly man power, but there is always help. We also utilize gait belts with every transfer.

melcolbstorm · Feb 28, 2014

AWESOME!!! Thanks!!I look forward to it all!!

Stephalump · Mar 5, 2014

I work on a tele floor, but I don't have much to add to the PP. We do vitals q4 (unless ordered more frequently) ADLs, blood sugar checks, and basic patient care. We can take out foleys and IVs, and start IVs if we take a class. It's basically med-surg except on our floor we take more of the med (especially if they are heart patients) and less of the surg.

How you transfer patients is really going to depend on how your unit works. We have a pretty great team environment (there are always exceptions, of course) and (almost) no one expects anyone to try to move anyone without help. They don't pay any of us enough to warrant disability.

lakera99 · May 6, 2014

I work as a Telemetry Tech and I did go to school for Patient Care Tech. I got certified as CNA, Phlebotomist and EKG and I don't do anything other than monitor the patients the are on the monitors. I put in the vitals for the ICU patients every hour, telemetry and CO2 patients every two hours. I don't go and take vitals, or blood glucose,

Quetzalcoatl · Jul 14, 2014

Be wary cross training into new skills because chances are you'll end up like me -- exploited and dumped on. You'll be hired for a position and the next thing you know, they're forcing you to work other skills you aren't paid to do. And once they start this, it's like crack cocaine and they aren't going to stop.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Aug 2, 2015

Be wary cross training into new skills because chances are you'll end up like me -- exploited and dumped on. You'll be hired for a position and the next thing you know, they're forcing you to work other skills you aren't paid to do. And once they start this, it's like crack cocaine and they aren't going to stop.

It's usually at the bottom of your job description: "Other duties as assigned." Nursing job descriptions have it as well.

Additional assignments are considered part of your job-why should you get any extra pay?

It's been happening for decades. Is it infuriating? You betcha. Is it going to stop? Probably not.

The only thing they can't do is force you to something beyond your scope of practice, or without adequate training.

ixchel · Aug 2, 2015

It's usually at the bottom of your job description: "Other duties as assigned." Nursing job descriptions have it as well.
Additional assignments are considered part of your job-why should you get any extra pay?
It's been happening for decades. Is it infuriating? You betcha. Is it going to stop? Probably not.
The only thing they can't do is force you to something beyond your scope of practice, or without adequate training.

Girl what search terms are you putting in that brought this old thread up? lol

I do agree with your comment, though. :) If I were given the opportunity to up my skills mix, I'd be looking at it as job security.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Aug 2, 2015

Girl what search terms are you putting in that brought this old thread up? lol
I do agree with your comment, though. :) If I were given the opportunity to up my skills mix, I'd be looking at it as job security.

Bored...scrolling...too lazy to put my reading glasses on lol.