Telehealth Nursing: Expanding Patient Care Beyond Traditional Boundaries

You've got a nasty cough and need to go to the clinic, but your car is in the garage for repairs. A solution is telemedicine, which allows you to speak to a provider over the phone or via video chat without leaving your house.

While training to become a nurse, you might start thinking about your career options, including telehealth nursing. What is telehealth nursing, exactly? If you decide to enroll in an accelerated BSN program, you may study the use of technology in nursing.

In fact, if you enroll in Concordia University Texas’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) track, you will gain first-hand experience integrating technology in nursing practice. You’ll even complete your coursework online and participate in interactive digital elements to learn nursing concepts.

When exploring telehealth in nursing, you should consider the role it plays and how it can benefit both nurses and patients alike. While you do so, reflect upon whether you might like to pursue a career in telemedicine.

What Is Telehealth Nursing?

Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology in medicine and can encompass devices like phones, computers, and videoconferencing technology. Through these devices and programs, providers like nurses and doctors can deliver patient care remotely.

While available telehealth services are subject to state and federal regulations, they can allow a provider to remotely:

• Assess patients and discuss their symptoms
• Counsel patients on medication management
• Help patients manage chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes
• Provide guidance on the use of OTC remedies, such as cough medication

Telehealth services can be utilized across a range of nursing specialties, including acute care, hospice care, primary care, and palliative care.

Telemedicine doesn’t just cover appointments. Some patients use at-home medical devices that transmit current patient data remotely, allowing providers to keep an eye on their patient’s health status in real time without in-person appointments. These devices include:

• Blood pressure monitors
• Glucose monitors
• Pulse oximeters
• Heart monitors
• Digital scales
• Smart watches

Of course, telemedicine does have its limits. In some cases, a remote telehealth visit cannot replace in-person assessment and care. Telehealth nurses need to know when to advise a patient to seek in-person care for a potentially serious medical issue.

Key Benefits of Telehealth Nursing

Telemedicine is advantageous for both patients and nurses alike. It’s also helpful for healthcare systems, as telemedicine tends to be more cost-effective than in-person visits.

Benefits for Nurses

Nurses can use telehealth technology to see more patients in less time. This is particularly important in underserved areas, where the patient-to-provider ratio is less than desirable. In addition, telehealth visits eliminate the possibility of germ exposure, which protects healthcare professionals from the pathogens that patients may be harboring.

Benefits for Patients

One of the most significant benefits of telehealth nursing for patients is access to care. There are numerous healthcare deserts in the U.S., which are areas that lack adequate access to healthcare services. In fact, over 80% of U.S. counties are healthcare deserts. Telemedicine enables patients in underserved areas to have greater access to the care they need when they need it.

Receiving care from home is also important for patients who have trouble leaving home due to mobility or transportation issues, such as the disabled and elderly. Furthermore, the use of remote patient monitoring technology can improve how well patients manage chronic conditions.

Essential Skills for Success in Telehealth Nursing

Skills that are helpful for nurses who aspire to work in telehealth include the following:

• Active listening
• Communication skills
• Cultural awareness
• Patient assessment
• Technology skills
• Understanding of HIPAA

Although you might not have an opportunity to deliver telehealth services during your clinical rotations, these transferable skills are also important in other areas of nursing.

During clinicals, pay particular attention to your bedside manner. Work on improving your active listening skills by paying attention to patients' nonverbal communication cues and what they say. Look for opportunities to improve your digital literacy and brush up on HIPAA basics.

How to Become a Telehealth Nurse

If you’re interested in becoming a telehealth nurse, you should first know that many nurses provide some telemedicine services. For instance, a nurse working in a primary care physician’s office could speak to patients via phone, answering questions about their medications.

While many nurses provide telemedicine services, some nurses work in telehealth full-time. For instance, they may work for an insurance company as a telehealth nurse who answers members’ questions and provides remote assessments.

Regardless of whether you plan to provide some telemedicine services or be a full-time telehealth nurse, the pathway toward pursuing your career is similar.

Earn a BSN

Your first step to pursuing a career in telehealth nursing is earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). If you already have a non-nursing bachelor’s degree or a minimum number of non-nursing college credits, you may be eligible to apply to an ABSN program, such as the ABSN track at Concordia University Texas.

By leveraging your prior education, our ABSN track allows you to graduate in as few as 16 months after completing prerequisites.

Our ABSN track is comprised of:

• Online coursework that teaches nursing concepts
• In-person nursing skills and simulation labs, where you develop important nursing skills and clinical judgment
• Clinical rotations, during which you’ll work shifts at nearby hospitals and practice providing direct patient care under supervision

Obtain a Nursing License by Passing the NCLEX-RN

After earning your BSN, the next step is to pass the NCLEX-RN. This is the national licensure exam that all aspiring nurses must pass to obtain a state-issued nursing license.

It's ideal to begin studying for the NCLEX well in advance, even as early as your first semester in nursing school. The rigorous exam will test not only your nursing knowledge but also your ability to form appropriate nursing responses in various patient care scenarios.

Gain Clinical Experience at the Bedside

Even if you’d like to work as a full-time telemedicine nurse who only sees patients remotely, you will need at least a few years of in-person clinical experience at the bedside. Telehealth can actually be more difficult than in-person care because assessing patients remotely is challenging.

You’ll rely primarily on your communication and observation skills to assess patients and develop appropriate nursing responses, requiring you to draw heavily from your clinical experience. To develop those skills and acquire that experience, you must work at the bedside.

While gaining clinical experience, you can choose from multiple nursing specialties that are relevant to telemedicine. One of the broadest nursing specialties is primary care. Other options include urgent care and mental and behavioral health.

Obtain Professional Certifications

After gaining some clinical experience, you may wish to obtain one or more professional certifications. While not required, certifications can demonstrate your proficiency in various nursing skills.

The National Certification Corporation (NCC) discontinued its telehealth nursing certification; however, the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN)’s ambulatory care certification exam includes a telehealth nursing section, making it a good option.

Work Toward an Exciting Career in Telemedicine

If you’re eager to pursue a nursing career at the forefront of technology, you can build a foundation for your future at Concordia University Texas. With locations in Austin and Dallas, our faith-based nursing track aims to develop Christian leaders who are committed to serving patients with compassion.

Here, you’ll work through a rigorous curriculum designed to help prepare you to become a confident, practice-ready nurse. Contact an admissions counselor today to learn about the next steps.