Telehealth nursing

[Rom323]

Hi everyone, I'm an RN currently working on a med-surg unit. Recently I have been considering a job offer as a Home Telehealth RN. I don't know much about Telehealth nursing and what's involved. Don't want to make the move and end up hating it. Any info would be much appreciated. BTW, I'm thinking about this because of the opportunity of working Monday to Friday, no wknds & holidays...I have little kids and lack of time with them is beginning to show. The job offer will be at the VA Hosp...if that changes anything:-)

[paradiseboundRN]

Teleheath in home care is usually used for patients with CHF. The home care nurse set up the equipment in the house and the patient uses it to measure their vitals and weight daily, which is transmitted to an office computer. The telehealth nurse monitors the recordings and calls the doctor with abnormal readings and takes orders for new meds etc. She also calls the patient and discusses results, etc. Often the telehealth position is combined with triage. At my company, these are combined. We have 4 nurses working 8 hour shifts (830-5) but if its busy, they work overtime to do documentation. I hear they have been putting in a lot of hours lately. They also rotate weekends and rotate holidays. 1 weekend a month, every 4th holiday. Its a salaried position. I work for a very large home care company. Some of the telehealth nurses look pretty stressed out, some not so much. You need to have really good assessment and critical thinking skills to evaluate the readings and especially if triage is combined.