Taking care of the sick, injured, convalescent or disabled is what the Registered Nurse does. It is their job every day to assess, plan, intervene, implement and evaluate, under general supervision, and according to the established practices and philosophy, to provide a climate which optimizes patient care. RN’s collaborate with other professionals to achieve desired patient outcomes through effective care and treatment. Registered Nurses need communication skills to interact with patients and family members while maintaining professional nursing standards. Travel assignments and jobs are available as the healthcare field continues to grow. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists nursing as a top ten occupations with largest job growth. Travel nursing can allow you to see other areas you have always thought of visiting. Work in a great environment of your choice and enjoy visiting the area in your free time.

The Telemetry Registered Nurse works with critically ill patients who require the use of monitoring devices, measuring heart rates, breathing rates, blood pressure and oxygen levels. The RN may monitor the patient at bedside and provide medications and other support as needed, or sometimes the monitoring is done remotely from a central location, such as the nurses station.

Telemetry RN has a unique job of caring for patients as they transition from the ICU. Telemetry/Progressive Care nursing is increasingly important as more hospitals deal with limited ICU beds and are looking for the best way to care for the patient that is progressing and/or doing better. Progressive care describes the care delivered to patients whose needs are less acute. The patient is moderately stable with less complexity and requires moderate resources and intermittent nursing vigilance or they are stable but under risk of becoming unstable again and requiring increased intensity of vigilance and care. A decreased risk of a life-threatening event, decreased need for invasive monitoring, increased stability and an increased ability to participate in their own care are characteristics of the progressive care patient.

Telemetry Registered Nursing has expanded beyond the cardiac telemetry that marked its beginnings and PCU now encompasses a lot of the same therapies and technologies once limited to critical care units. In order to meet the changing needs of the patient, RN’s caring for progressive care patients must demonstrate skills influenced by ever changing technology.

The Telemetry RN should demonstrate the following basic competencies:

• Basic and advanced life support
• Dysrhythmia monitoring techniques, interpretation and treatment
• Medication dosage calculation, patient monitoring for medication effects, continuous medication infusion administration (non-titrated vasoactive agents, anti-arrhythmic agents, platelet inhibitors and/or insulin)
• Patient monitoring using standardized procedures for pre-, intra, and post procedures (TEE, cardiac catheterization with PCI, cardioversion, bronchoscopy, EGD, PEG placement, chest tube insertion)
• Recognition of the symptoms and signs of cardiopulmonary emergencies and the initiation of standardized interventions to stabilize the patient awaiting transfer to critical care.
• Hemodynamic monitoring including equipment setup and troubleshooting, monitoring and recognition of signs and symptoms of patient instability.
• Interpretation of ABGs and communication of the findings
• Assessment of the ventilated patient to assure delivery of the prescribed treatment and proper patient response
• Recognition of indications for and management of the patient requiring non-invasive 02 delivery systems including oral airways, bipap and nasal CPAP
• Assessment and understanding of long term mechanical ventilation and weaning
• Assessment, monitoring and managing of patients who require renal therapeutic interventions such as hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, continuous bladder irrigation, stents and urostomies
• Recognition of the indications for and complications of enteral and parental nutrition
• Recognition of and evaluation of the family’s needs for more involvement in the care to aid in transition from hospital to home

The Telemetry RN should have the following characteristics: advocacy, clinical judgment, caring practices, systems thinking, response to diversity, collaboration, clinical inquiry and also be a teacher to educate the patients and their families.