Telemedicine can significantly enhance support for on-site nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who are essential to hospital care. Often, these practitioners must wait or wake physicians to speak with them about a patient. This, alongside the physician shortage plaguing the entire country, makes a physician’s time incredibly sought after and limited. All of this can lead to unavoidable delays in patient care and a more stressful work environment. Telemedicine offers a solution by providing 24/7 access to virtual physicians, ensuring immediate guidance and support. Implementing a dedicated telemedicine team of physicians can significantly benefit the nursing staff. Here are some key advantages:
1. Enhanced Efficiency
As patient demand rises and the physician shortage grows, efficiency is at risk. Telemedicine facilitates quicker and more efficient communication between nurses and physicians, allowing for prompt decision-making and reducing patient care delays. Another way telemedicine enhances efficiency is by reducing the administrative burden. Through telemedicine, digital records and virtual consultations seamlessly reach each on-call physician. This can decrease the paperwork and administrative tasks nurses typically handle, freeing up more time for direct patient care.
2. Improved Patient Care
Studies show that the addition of telemedicine reduces response time and improves patient care and overall satisfaction. This is also true for nurses. Telemedicine enables immediate access to physicians for consultations, leading to faster treatment decisions and potentially better patient outcomes. Access to a team of physicians also carries over to improving patients’ care. Nurses can easily connect with specialists through telemedicine platforms, ensuring patients receive expert care regardless of the hospital’s location, particularly benefiting rural or underserved areas. Eagle Telemedicine interviewed nurse Rebecca Carter in Kansas after they incorporated Eagle Tele-Hospitalists into their care team.
“When Eagle came on board, we could discuss each of our patients with their Tele-Hospitalists and look at our patients from a broader perspective,” Carter said. “We transfer fewer patients because we make more confident decisions that patients can stay here with our own resources and get the level of care they need. The telemedicine program has really expanded my scope and taken my knowledge base to a new level.”
3. Improved Work-Life Balance
Burnout has always affected the healthcare industry but has reached new heights since the pandemic. A recent study found that 62% of nurses experience burnout, and it’s even more common in the younger generation, with 69% of nurses under 25 reporting high levels of burnout. With telemedicine, nurses and physicians alike are offered an improved work/life balance, reducing burnout. Nurses can lean on remote physicians for more flexible scheduling among the entire team.
4. Enhanced Collaboration
Telemedicine acts on the collaborative approach to patient care, where nurses can easily access multiple healthcare professionals from various specialties in the patient’s treatment plan. This not only enhances collaboration opportunities but drastically improves patient care. At Anthony Medical Center, the seamless collaboration has helped all parties. NPs and PAs perform the initial assessments of patients with the support of the Tele-Hospitalist team, who have access to full patient records and are able to enter orders directly in the hospital’s EMR. If there are questions, a Tele-Hospitalist might “beam in” via videoconferencing or phone call to make their treatment recommendations. This collaboration reduces patient wait time and empowers nurses.
5. Increased Job Satisfaction
One of the most prevalent ways to increase job satisfaction in any industry is to offer professional growth opportunities. In fact, retention rates are 34% higher among employees who have professional development opportunities. Through telemedicine, nurses interact regularly with a broader range of physicians and specialists, which can enhance their professional development and open their eyes to new opportunities to learn and grow.
With the added capability to “beam in” physicians, nurses are further empowered to make informed decisions and feel more confident in their roles. The increased access offers nurses of all levels increased support, especially for nurses new to the field. Eagle Telemedicine found that their physicians offered increased support, especially for relatively new night shift nurses. The increased access allowed new nurses to check in with off-site doctors instead of waking up an on-call physician, offering another option to reduce any delay in care.
Integrating telemedicine in the hospital setting not only improves patient care and operational efficiency but also directly benefits the nursing staff by enhancing communication and providing greater flexibility and professional growth opportunities. If you want a more cohesive and effective healthcare team, contact Eagle Telemedicine today. With over 450 physicians and 20 specialties, we are sure we can support your journey to a sustainable, efficient and proactive healthcare environment.
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