Is Med/Surg Unit and Tele Unit the same or Different?

[PricelessRN, MSN]

Hey nurses! 

I need clarification. So I have worked on a Med/Surg unit with telemetry with remote monitoring and with rhythms showing at the nurse's station. So my question is if a job or assignment is posted as a "Tele Unit", am I qualified to work it. I am looking into travel assignments that are listed as "Tele" and I was wondering if my Med/Surg Tele unit was the same thing? Basically, are Medsurg and Tele the same? Thanks so much!

[MunoRN, RN]

Typically, a "tele unit" refers to progressive care units or sometimes 'medical telemetry' units, but really the term is kind of useless as a term to describe the medical acuity of a unit.  'Telemetry' refers to the collection of data at one point where that data is then sent somewhere else, which doesn't do anything to describe the type or acuity of patients a unit handles.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

No, they aren't the same. Telemetry refers to (continuous) cardiac monitoring. It can reflect acuity, but not always. You can be med-surg and not have telemetry, but you can't be an ICU without telemetry....does that make sense?

[PricelessRN, MSN]

5 minutes ago, MunoRN said:

Typically, a "tele unit" refers to progressive care units or sometimes 'medical telemetry' units, but really the term is kind of useless as a term to describe the medical acuity of a unit.  'Telemetry' refers to the collection of data at one point where that data is then sent somewhere else, which doesn't do anything to describe the type or acuity of patients a unit handles.

Okay, so that's what I don't want because I have no PCU experience, however, I have tele experience from working on a Med/Surg unit with continuous cardiac monitoring. So if a unit is described as "Tele" should I assume its a PCU? 

 

4 minutes ago, ThePrincessBride said:

No, they aren't the same. Telemetry refers to (continuous) cardiac monitoring. It can reflect acuity, but not always. You can be med-surg and not have telemetry, but you can't be an ICU without telemetry....does that make sense?

Yes, so I wonder since I have MedSurg experience with telemetry monitoring, would I be able to work on a unit described only as "Tele"?

 

[MunoRN, RN]

There are lower acuity medical and surgical floors, including not cardiac-patient specific floors, that have added telemetry monitoring, so the term is no longer specific to a PCU.  I've seen facilities that refer to most of their inpatient units as "tele units" because they utilize some form of telemetry, which can be just continuous pulse oximetry.  It's not a term a hospital or recruiters should be using to describe a unit given how non-specific it is, so really the only way to answer your question is to ask them for clarification.

[PricelessRN, MSN]

Thank you. Makes sense.

 

 

[MunoRN, RN]

18 minutes ago, ThePrincessBride said:

No, they aren't the same. Telemetry refers to (continuous) cardiac monitoring. It can reflect acuity, but not always. You can be med-surg and not have telemetry, but you can't be an ICU without telemetry....does that make sense?

That's one of the various interpretations of the term that has come about, but really the terms refers to remote monitoring of any data, not just continuous EKG, and ICU patients are typically not on telemetry, they are hardwired and monitored locally, not remotely.  Because of the varied and reinterpreted use of the term you're not wrong, it's just become a very poorly defined word.

[PricelessRN, MSN]

Exactly. I will just inquire more about the specific unit. I just don't want end up taking an assignment that I have little experience in. Thanks for your help!

 

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

1 hour ago, MunoRN said:

That's one of the various interpretations of the term that has come about, but really the terms refers to remote monitoring of any data, not just continuous EKG, and ICU patients are typically not on telemetry, they are hardwired and monitored locally, not remotely.  Because of the varied and reinterpreted use of the term you're not wrong, it's just become a very poorly defined word.

I agree.