Preliminary Evaluation of Cardiac Telemetry Technician Work in a Large Health System: Mutual Dependence and Considerations for Patient Load

The introduction of continuous cardiac monitoring via telemetry provides a method to ensure patient care is safe and effective. At the same time, the implementation of this technology has raised concerns about telemetry technician (teletech) work. This project provides a two-fold look at teletech’ work in real-time settings to describe teletech interactions with unit staff and to explore the relationship between measures of teletech’ workload and patient load. Results suggest the implementation of telemetry systems necessitate a mutual dependence between teletechs and unit staff: unit staff rely on teletechs to inform them of concerning patient states; teletechs rely on unit staff to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the telemetry system and the patient data they observe. Results from measures of teletech’ workload and patient load align with previous work that explored teletech’ patient load in simulated settings. Agreement between the current project and previous studies also suggest a potential patient load capacity of 33 patients for continuous telemonitoring work. Future research and implications for academics, healthcare operations, and the design of telemetry systems are discussed.