A new kind of nursing

When I was in nursing school, a mere six years ago, I couldn’t imagine nursing other than in a face-to-face environment. At the time, I knew there were telephone triage nurses, but I really had no concept of that type of nursing. But hey, nursing is nursing, right?

We all go through the nursing process each time we interact with a patient (even if we swore we would never again acknowledge the term “nursing process” after we passed the NCLEX—I know, I said it too). The nursing process is embedded in each and every registered nurse. I’m sure we could rattle off the steps of the nursing process in our sleep: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation. So again, nursing is nursing, right? Right! But in my most recent job role, I have been introduced to a new kind of nursing—virtual nursing.

I spend each day at work interacting with patients I have never met, most of whom I probably never will, and I love it! Please don’t misunderstand; the reason I love interacting with patients in the way I do is not because I am not face-to-face with them but, as a proud Generation Xer/ Millennial, I use technology A LOT. I think being paid to e-mail and call patients is the greatest thing since the invention of the IV pump. After all, when I’m not at work, I spend upwards of 50 percent of my leisure time talking on the phone or e-mailing/texting my friends.

People are often surprised to hear that I am a nurse who spends all my time in an office sitting in front of a computer. Sometimes, it is even shocking to me. Back when I was in nursing school, I thought there were only three ways to ever have my own office: 1) become a nursing professor, 2) become a hospital administrator or, 3, leave nursing and work in corporate America.

Boy, was I wrong! I work in neither academia or nursing administration, but I spend all day calling, e-mailing and faxing patients. Each morning I walk into my office, look outside my huge window to see whether or not I can see the Hollywood sign that day (this, of course, dictated by the amount of smog in the air—got to love Los Angeles!), log on to my computer and begin typing my little heart out.

I go through the nursing process with each and every patient encounter; there’s nothing different about that. I triage patient e-mails and telephone calls, deciding who has the most urgent need and who should be contacted right away. I order medications, labs and radiology tests, using standing orders and a list of physician preferences. And I do it all online!

Although I sometimes miss the adrenaline rush of running to a crash Caesarean section or the excitement of a vaginal birth, there are aspects of virtual nursing I love dearly. I love chair dancing as I listen to a popular ringback tone, while waiting for the patient to answer her cell phone. I love reading e-mail responses from patients who thank me for ordering or refilling a prescription. I love receiving a call from the nurses’ station, because a patient has come in for her appointment and she wants to finally meet me. I enjoy establishing relationships with women I have never seen face-to-face!

When I get tired of staring at the computer screen and I need face-to-face interaction, I simply walk out of my office and down the hall. I have the best of both worlds. Now, if only someone would create a way for me to communicate with my patients via Facebook and text messaging, I’d be in nursing heaven!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.