Is Telemedicine Actually Right for You as a Nurse Practitioner?

After nearly a decade in telemedicine, here’s what I think NPs should consider before deciding they want a remote career.

Maybe you want to stop commuting. Maybe you want to be home when your kids get back from school, make it to their games, or have more freedom over where you live and work.

I get it. Those possibilities drew me to telemedicine, too. But before you spend months applying for remote jobs—or thousands of dollars pursuing the state licenses some of them require—I want you to ask yourself something beyond Can I get hired?

Would I actually enjoy practicing this way?

Why I’ve stayed in telemedicine

Telemedicine has changed my life.

When I worked in Manhattan, my train commute could take two hours. My last in-person job involved a 45-minute drive. Then I’d arrive at a clinic with patients to see, a full waiting room, and documentation waiting for me.

My husband and I also dreamed of being snowbirds. A job that required me to be in the same clinic every day wasn’t going to make that easy.

Telemedicine gave me another way to practice. I could work from home and, in some roles, choose my schedule. I could care for patients across different states and continue doing work I care deeply about: helping people access care. Over the years, I’ve worked as a provider and in operations and management. Those experiences helped me open a small private practice and eventually build Telemedicine Chick.

I love what telemedicine has made possible for me.

But I also know it isn’t for everyone.

What changes when you leave the clinic

When people picture a remote NP job, they often picture what they’ll gain: no commute, more flexibility, and perhaps more time at home. Those things can be real. I’ve experienced them.

What’s easier to overlook is what you leave behind.

In a clinic, the patient is in front of you. You can perform a physical exam. A nurse may be nearby, or you might turn to a colleague and ask, “Can I run something by you?”

At home, you may be making clinical decisions alone at your computer. You’re connecting with patients through a screen, a phone call, or written messages, without the ability to physically examine them yourself. You have to trust what patients tell you—but that can be difficult when someone is asking for a medication or treatment and you can’t confirm an important part of their history. You need to know what else to ask and when you don’t have enough information to safely say yes.

Some employers provide excellent clinical support. Others don’t. Some give you real flexibility over your schedule, while others expect quick turnaround on messages and refills—even if that means checking in at night or on weekends.

Technology and workflows can change, too. At a growing platform, you might learn one process on Monday and find it has changed by Tuesday.

I’ve known NPs who tried telemedicine and returned to in-person practice. They missed examining patients, working alongside a nurse, and being physically present with patients and coworkers. They were capable of practicing telemedicine; they discovered that in-person connection was an important part of what they loved about being an NP.

That’s why I want you to look beyond the promise of working from home. When it’s hard to land your first telemedicine job, it’s tempting to see a listing asking for 10, 15, or even 20 state licenses and think, “Maybe I just need more licenses.” But even adding five can be a significant investment. Before paying for licenses to qualify for a particular kind of job, make sure you understand the work you’re investing in.

The telemedicine gut check

These eight questions help you picture what working in telemedicine might actually feel like. They cover parts of the job you may encounter regularly, from caring for patients without an in-person exam to spending much of your day alone at home.

Notice your first reaction to each one. What sounds appealing? What makes you hesitate? Write your answers down if that helps. There’s no score and no right set of answers. The point is to see which parts feel like a fit and which you’d want to understand better before taking a job.

1. How do I feel about making clinical decisions when I can’t examine the patient in person?

Think about how much information you gather during an in-person visit, sometimes without realizing it. In telemedicine, you work with what you can learn through the type of visit you’re providing. Your history-taking skills become especially important.

You don’t need to know how you’d handle every virtual encounter before your first telemedicine job. But does learning to practice without the hands-on exam sound interesting to you, or would you deeply miss that part of patient care?

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