Latest / The Side Hustle Career Podcast with Fexingo: Second Income, Freelancing While Employed / How a Nurse Built a 5000 Monthly Side Hustle in Telehealth Triage
Transcript
- Lucas: So today I want to talk about a side hustle that I think a lot of people overlook if they're not in healthcare, but for those who are, it's actually one of the fastest-growing remote income streams out there. Luna: Which one? Lucas: Telehealth triage. Specifically, a registered nurse named Sarah who I spoke with. She works full-time at a hospital in Phoenix, but on evenings and weekends, she logs into a virtual care platform and handles patient intake calls. She determines urgency, routes people to the right level of care, and she's pulling in about five thousand dollars a month from it. Luna: Five thousand a month, part-time? That's serious money. How many hours is she actually working? Lucas: About thirty-five hours a month. She earns thirty-five dollars an hour. So it's roughly one hundred forty hours a month of extra work, but she's very disciplined about not overdoing it. She blocks out three evenings a week and one Saturday shift. Luna: And the platform handles all the licensing and scheduling headaches, I assume? Lucas: Exactly. That's the key here. Sarah works for a company called TriageLogic — they contract with hospitals and clinics to provide after-hours coverage. She doesn't have to credential herself with each facility; the platform does that. She just needs her RN license, a quiet space, and a reliable internet connection. Luna: So it's basically like being a virtual on-call nurse. But I imagine the actual work is pretty intense — you have to make quick decisions based on limited information. Lucas: It is. And that's why the pay is good. Sarah told me that the platform uses standardized protocols, so she follows a decision tree for symptoms like chest pain, fever, or abdominal issues. But she still needs to use clinical judgment. She's not just reading a script. Luna: What's the training like? Can someone just start doing this with their existing nursing degree? Lucas: Most platforms require at least two years of clinical experience before they'll let you triage. Sarah had five years of ER experience, which made her a strong candidate. The training itself is about two weeks of virtual simulations and protocol review. She said it paid off after the first month. Luna: I love that she came from the ER. That context is probably invaluable for triage calls. Lucas: Absolutely. She told me that in the ER, you learn to prioritize based on the story the patient tells you in thirty seconds. Telehealth triage is similar, except you don't have vital signs or a physical exam. You have to rely on your questioning and the patient's description. Luna: So for nurses listening who want to do this, what's the first step? Just apply to a platform? Lucas: Pretty much. There are several: TriageLogic, IntellaTriage, Carenet Health. Some hospitals also run their own internal telehealth triage programs. The pay ranges from thirty to forty-five dollars an hour depending on experience and the complexity of the calls. Luna: What about non-nurses? I feel like there's a whole range of healthcare professionals who could do something similar — paramedics, medical assistants, maybe even bilingual generalists. Lucas: Great point. There are actually telehealth roles for paramedics too, though the scope is a bit different. Most triage positions legally require an RN license because of the clinical decisions involved. But paramedics can work in telehealth for chronic care management, health coaching, or remote patient monitoring. Luna: And bilingual skills — that's a huge differentiator. Sarah mentioned that she occasionally gets Spanish-speaking callers and she gets a premium for those. Lucas: She did. She gets an extra five dollars per hour for bilingual calls. And the demand is growing. Telehealth usage has stabilized at about thirty to forty times pre-pandemic levels, according to McKinsey. So the infrastructure is there, and the staffing needs are real. Luna: Let's talk about the potential downside. Burnout must be a concern. She's already working full-time in a hospital, and then she goes home and takes more clinical calls. Lucas: She's careful about that. She has a hard rule: never more than four hours in a single shift, and she takes at least one full day off from all clinical work. Also, the triage calls are high-intensity but short — average call length is about eight minutes. So it's not the same as a twelve-hour ER shift. But yeah, burnout is real. She says the key is treating it like a separate job, not an extension of her day job. Luna: I think that's smart. I've seen a lot of side hustles fail because people just add hours on top of an already exhausting schedule without any boundaries. Lucas: Exactly. And that's part of why this episode exists. We've covered a lot of side hustles on this show — from tutoring to Notion templates — but we haven't really touched the clinical space. And it's a genuinely good fit for people who already have the training and want to work from home. Luna: Yeah, and we should mention too — we keep these episodes ad-free because we think that's the right way to deliver value. If you've found this helpful, and you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a simple way to keep the show going. Lucas: Appreciate that. So back to telehealth — another angle is the technology itself. Sarah uses a headset with a noise-canceling microphone, a second monitor for the protocol software, and a dedicated ethernet connection because Wi-Fi drops would be a liability. Luna: That's a good reminder. You can't just do this from a coffee shop. The platform requires a private, quiet space and a hardwired internet connection. And probably liability insurance? Lucas: Actually, the platform covers liability insurance for the shift. That's part of the contract. But Sarah does carry her own malpractice tail coverage from her hospital job. It's worth checking with your insurer whether telehealth side work is covered. Luna: Let's zoom out a bit. Telehealth triage feels like a niche, but the market is huge. With the aging population and the push for virtual-first care, it seems like this will only grow. Lucas: Absolutely. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects registered nursing jobs to grow six percent this decade, but telehealth-specific roles are expanding faster. Some platforms are even hiring nurses for asynchronous triage — where patients submit symptoms via text and the nurse responds within an hour. That pays slightly less, around twenty-five to thirty dollars an hour, but it's more flexible. Luna: Asynchronous — so you can answer messages on your own schedule. That's interesting for someone who doesn't want to commit to specific shifts. Lucas: Right. Sarah considered that but she prefers the real-time calls because she can resolve issues immediately. But for someone with unpredictable hours, asynchronous could be a better fit. Luna: What about international opportunities? Are there platforms that hire nurses from other countries remotely? Lucas: It's tricky because triage requires knowledge of local healthcare systems and licensing. Most U.S.-based platforms require an active U.S. nursing license. But there are global telehealth companies like Babylon Health that hire nurses in the UK, Canada, and Australia. So if you're licensed in those countries, it's possible. Luna: So the big takeaway here: if you're a nurse with a couple of years of clinical experience, telehealth triage is a realistic path to a five-figure side hustle with relatively low startup costs. Lucas: That's the headline. Sarah's setup cost her about three hundred dollars — a good headset, a second monitor, and a wired internet upgrade. She recouped that in her first week. And she's not a tech wizard; she just followed the platform's equipment guidelines. Luna: I think the one thing I'd add is that this side hustle also builds your skills. Triage sharpens your clinical reasoning, your communication under pressure, and your documentation speed. Those are all transferable. Lucas: Great point. Sarah mentioned that her triage experience actually helped her get a promotion at her hospital — they saw her handling complex phone assessments and recognized her decision-making skills. Luna: So it's not just money; it's career capital. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the kind of side hustle we like to highlight. One that pays well, fits around a full-time job, and makes you better at your main career. Telehealth triage checks all three boxes. Luna: For nurses listening who are curious, what's one piece of advice Sarah would give? Lucas: She said don't underestimate the mental fatigue. It's not physically demanding, but after four hours of triage calls, you're mentally drained. So she recommends starting with two-hour shifts and building up. And always have a wind-down routine — she goes for a walk or listens to music before bed. Luna: Smart. That's a good note to end on. Thanks for the breakdown, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. If you're a nurse or a healthcare professional, this might be the side hustle you didn't know existed. Worth exploring.