Fostering Synergy: A Nurse-Managed Remote Telemetry Model

The authors summarize the development, successful implementation, and nurse management of a remote telemetry service that uses the AACN Synergy Model as the framework.

The challenge of aligning patients’ needs, clinical technology, and scarce resources has necessitated several levels of care in hospitals. As the demand for cardiac monitoring of patients who are acutely ill yet in stable condition has increased in the past decade, an intermediate level of care has emerged. In response, the American College of Cardiology published guidelines¹ for different levels of cardiac monitoring, and the Society of Critical Care Medicine² recommended admission and discharge criteria for intermediate care units. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) characterized this less acute end of the critical care continuum that includes all intermediate, step-down, and telemetry units as progressive care,³ a realm of care with its own practice standards and nursing competencies that address the specific...