Remote EEG monitoring remains a highly coveted role in neurodiagnostics for many reasons. Working remotely has been shown to boost productivity, morale, and enhance work-life balance as it removes the commute to work time. However, those benefits become disadvantages when the worker is an extrovert or very social person. The article “Six Key Advantages and Disadvantages of Working from Home in Europe during COVID-19” describes 13 advantages and 16 disadvantages that also apply to remote EEG monitoring (Ipsen et al, 2021). This article is not about those advantages or disadvantages of working remotely, nor is it about career placement as a remote monitoring technologist—you can find those articles in the reference list. This article will cover topics to consider when weighing whether to apply for a remote EEG monitoring job.
Ask Yourself:
- Are you skilled at utilizing and troubleshooting your smart phone?
- Are you skilled at utilizing and troubleshooting your home computer and network?
- Do you possess knowledge and troubleshooting for at least three different EEG manufacturers’ equipment?
- Can you work independently?
- Do you need patient interaction to feel fulfilled?
- Do you have a HIPAA-compliant workspace? (free of kids, spouses, or parents?)
- Do you own a set of neurodiagnostic atlases for referencing?
- Can you handle four to eight patients simultaneously? Or up to 12 if intermittent monitoring?
- Can you handle sitting at your desk without using the restroom for up to four hours at a time, maybe longer if you are working 12-hour shifts?
- Do you have a strong, reliable, hard-wired internet?
If you answered yes to nine of the questions and no to just the one, you are ready to apply. If you don’t know which one you were supposed to answer no to, you are not paying enough attention to detail to do this job. This job requires inordinately high-level attention to detail. You will be solely responsible for monitoring patients. This means that until the EEG is done, no one else is watching that patient.
This job requires independent troubleshooting. If the patient begins having seizures, you alone are responsible for recognizing the seizures, describing the EEG changes, and reaching out to the physician. If their computer malfunctions, you are responsible for notifying the facility and getting that fixed. If your internet fails, you are responsible for fixing it. This is a very independent role.
For many companies, you are responsible for knowing the ACNS Critical Care and Neonatal Critical Care terminology and employing that in your descriptions. If you are unsure what this terminology is, go review it. It’s free: https://www.acns.org/practice/guidelines#electroencephalography
Review guidelines 14 and 16 prior to taking any employer exam.
Remote EEG monitoring technologists are their own IT and biomed specialists, having to troubleshoot equipment issues with the network, software, cameras, microphones, and power. Remote EEG monitoring technologists need solid working knowledge of their smart phones, smart phone applications, and multifactor authentication tools.
Remote EEG technologists must still maintain CPR certification, all immunizations, clean drug screening, and required annual education such as HIPAA, OSHA, CDC, workplace violence training, and so forth.
Remote EEG technologists should strongly consider brushing up on pattern recognition, purchasing some high quality atlases, such as Arnold Sansevere and Dana Harrar’s, Atlas of Pediatric and Neonatal ICU EEG; Warren Blume, Giannina Holloway, Masako Kaibara and G. Bryan Young’s Blume’s Atlas of Pediatric and Adult Electroencephalography; and William Tatum’s Atlas of Artifacts in Clinical Neurophysiology. These textbooks are invaluable resources when you are remote monitoring and need to quickly verify a pattern you are seeing.
The last consideration when weighing your application for remote EEG monitoring: are you social? If so, put measures into place to maintain your social health. This is a role where ambiverts and introverts thrive. The caveat is companies that require regular video calls. That can be very draining to the introvert or ambivert who is expecting to just monitor.
Remote EEG monitoring is a rewarding career that can take you to leadership roles, education roles, IT careers, and running companies. It is encouraged to read the articles and blogs in the reference section to obtain various viewpoints on remote monitoring.
