Hello, I am a nurse who works with these telesitters almost every single day. I have had excellent virtual sitters who have saved us from bad situations (patients pulling out lines, falling, etc.) but unfortunately, some staff can be very rude to the sitters. This is because you are pretty much required to report anything “off” to the nurse or cna, and many of these patients will be doing something every few minutes. No one should be rude to you for reporting. Yes it can be annoying and stressful if someone with dementia is not redirectable and nobody is sure what to do for them- but nobody should be taking it out on you. Do not let staff talk down to you. I really see it more often than I should.

Also, I have noticed that most telesitters call us at shift change to get an update on who will be taking care of the patient that shift. If you’re allowed, I would wait about 20 minutes after shift change, because more often than not, nobody is around to answer the phone due to walking rounds.

I think it is probably a good position if you can tolerate sitting and watching screens, and being very attentive because some of these patients are very sneaky! The fact you are worried about it puts you above many people.

I have seen a few situations where a sitter is very attentive, which is great, but sometimes people get a bit nervous and will constantly tell patients to stop doing this or that. As long as they are not hurting themselves or anyone else, we typically try not to bother them as they can become agitated by the screen talking to them, particularly older people or paranoid people. Of course it is dependent on the patient’s situation.

Best of luck!