Telemetry monitoring

Specialties Cardiac

Published

I have two questions.

1. How often are the stips mounted for telemetry patients?

2. Do you use non-nurse monitor techs and do they monitor units where the nurses are not trained on telemetry? We currently do and feel it may be a questionable practice to have a non-nurse tell an RN what's going on with thier patient and the nurse needs to act on that info.

Thanks

Sue

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We mount 2 x for a 12hr shift. at 8am and at 3pm for 7a-7p

We do not have monitor techs at our hospita. We carry pagers.

At my other hospital where I was a nurse extern (a nurse aid basically) there were monitor techs who were trained heavily EKG classes. They had their own room and monitored for 3 units-2 of the units were on the same floor in the same area as the monitor tech's room.

Nurses ALSO had a monitor for their own unit at the station. The nurse techs would call the unit immediately or walk over to the unit immediately if there was a problem.

I have heard of monitor techs who were not trained specifically as a monitor tech watching the screen (ex:cnas, pct, etc). I personally do not think that is a good idea.

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Specializes in SDU, Tele, Hospice, Radiology, Education.
I have two questions.

1. How often are the stips mounted for telemetry patients?

2. Do you use non-nurse monitor techs and do they monitor units where the nurses are not trained on telemetry? We currently do and feel it may be a questionable practice to have a non-nurse tell an RN what's going on with thier patient and the nurse needs to act on that info.

Thanks

Sue

Hi Sue!

I am a Monitor Tech at the hospital that I work at and I am not a nurse (I am in nursing school, but I am the exception rather than the rule). We monitor most of the units in the hospital and the only units that really seem to have a problem wth it, are the ones that are the most acute (ie the ICU's). All of the nurses in the hospital are trained on tele, but many of the nurses that are not on the tele units, do not know what we are talking about when we call them. Usually its a good thing that we are watching the patients rather than the nurses on those units.

We mount strips every 8 hours- 7A, 3P, and 11P. Any changes to the rythym, if the patient is moved to another room, whatever, we mount another strip.

Although we are not nurses, we do have extensive training and orientation. We have a preceptor for about 3 months along with our tele classes.

Jo

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Specializes in LDRP.

I used to work on a cardiac surgery pcu-we had monitor techs who were non-nurses. they were cross trained secretaries.

they had never gone thru nursing school, but they took they same 24 hours of cardiac monitoring classes that all telemetry nurses do, with a competency test.

strips posted every 8 hours, on admsission, transfer, etc etc

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Specializes in cardiac.

1: Strips are mounted in the chart every 8 hours. Also, additional strips are mounted if a certain change in the pt's wave form was seen. Thus, when the doc came in, she/he would have something to go by.

2:We did not use moniter techs on our floor. The RN was responsible for monitoring the wave forms. We carried pagers that would alert us to any life threatening arrythmias. Also, I believe that monitor tech are required to recieve extensive training in interpreting cardiac arrythmias. That is there primary function on a monitored unit. They see something that looks out of the ordinary and then they need to alert the RN. Also, I think it's a good idea for all nurses working on floors with monitored pt's to recieve arrythmia interpretation training. It is still the RN/LPN's responsiblity to check on the pt. I also think it could be beneficial to the nurses to have an extra pair of eyes watching your pt. Where I worked, some RN's got tired of their beepers going off all the time due to interference and would take the battery out of the beeper so they wouldn't have to listen to it going off constantly. This was a very unsafe practice.

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I've worked in several facilities that use non-RN monitor techs. These techs are thoroughly trained and watch the monitors for 8-12 hours. Believe me, they know what they're looking at! I try to check in at the beginning of the shift and look at all my patients' rhythms, and sometimes we'll have a discussion about what we're looking at, but I can't run in there every 5 minutes. I have learned to trust my techs.

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Specializes in post-op.

We pull strips once a shift and if there is any type of arrythmia. We do not have monitor techs, it is the nurses responsibility. We have several monitors in the hall and one in the nurses station. If the monitor starts beeping, we usually look at it to see who it is and then check the pt. I work on a med surg floor with tele.

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Specializes in Cardiology.

We run and mount our strips every four hours on my tele floor. Our monitor techs are not nurses but have taken an ekg course. To work on my floor you have to be ACLS certified, so we can interpret our own strips. It's nice to have someone watching the monitors who can alert us to anything going on.

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Does anyone have any suggestions for free cardiac telemetry monitoring courses that are online. I am ACLS and PALS certified, but I need this piece of paper for my nursing agency.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

We mount strips once a shift, 7am,3pm and 11pm. Also for any change in rhythm. We have no dedicated telemetry monitor tech. I'm in ICU and we have a central monitoring unit at the nurses station. Same for the med-surg unit. They do not have a dedicated monitor tech either. Oftentimes, NO ONE is watching those tele monitors on their floor.

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