MAN! I HATE my pager!

[TRAMD]

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This frickin' stupid piece of junk! Doesn't it realize in its stupid plastic-encased head that I hate it so much and could so easily destroy it, never to return?

Tell me what you think about your digital-satan-hip-buddy.

 

[Blade28]

This frickin' stupid piece of junk! Doesn't it realize in its stupid plastic-encased head that I hate it so much and could so easily destroy it, never to return?

Tell me what you think about your digital-satan-hip-buddy.

You remember that day in med school, when everyone got their first pager? And how it was so cool and so exciting? And how you almost felt like a real doctor? And how many med students would wear them proudly 24/7, even if they weren't even on an MS-III rotation yet?

Yeah, that novelty (just like the thrill of being called "Doctor") wore off quickly.

I've become so traumatized by the sound of my pager's beep that when I hear it coming from another person's pager, not only does my right hand instinctively reach for my right hip, but I get filled with an inescapable sense of dread and despair.

 

[RTrain]

Oh, how many times have I seen that little battery icon slipping down past 50% and fantasized about accidentally forgetting to change it out...

 

[Hurricane]

I "accidentally" dropped mine in the toilet and it was dead dead dead. Unfortunately, my glee was short lived. They gave me a new one, and it's louder than the old one. Bastards.

 

[TRAMD]

You remember that day in med school, when everyone got their first pager? And how it was so cool and so exciting? And how you almost felt like a real doctor? And how many med students would wear them proudly 24/7, even if they weren't even on an MS-III rotation yet?

I believe that I seriously changed the battery in my med school pager more times than it went off.

I've become so traumatized by the sound of my pager's beep that when I hear it coming from another person's pager, not only does my right hand instinctively reach for my right hip, but I get filled with an inescapable sense of dread and despair.

HAHA! I love it when you are in the doctor's lounge and a pager goes off and everyone grabs their pager and looks at it.

The sound of my pager (or pagers on some nights) is worse than an alarm clock for me now.

 

[TRAMD]

Oh, how many times have I seen that little battery icon slipping down past 50% and fantasized about accidentally forgetting to change it out...

Won't work, the pager will find a way . . . they always do.

 

[TRAMD]

I "accidentally" dropped mine in the toilet and it was dead dead dead. Unfortunately, my glee was short lived. They gave me a new one, and it's louder than the old one. Bastards.

Who is this "they"? Does anyone know where pagers are made? Are they handed up to someone directly from hell?

 

[Castro Viejo]

My pager has been off since about July 1, 2007.

Anyone who needs me better damn well be one of the R3 or R4s, a surgical attending, the charge in the OR, or the charge on the surgical ward, and they all call me on my cell phone.

I hate my pager. It's the anti-Christ.

 

[sikegeek]

You remember that day in med school, when everyone got their first pager? And how it was so cool and so exciting? And how you almost felt like a real doctor? And how many med students would wear them proudly 24/7, even if they weren't even on an MS-III rotation yet?

Yeah, that novelty (just like the thrill of being called "Doctor") wore off quickly.

I've become so traumatized by the sound of my pager's beep that when I hear it coming from another person's pager, not only does my right hand instinctively reach for my right hip, but I get filled with an inescapable sense of dread and despair.

I have fantasized about taking my future pager to college/ high school homecoming to show my classmates "oooooh OMG, you must be important."


Isn't that disturbing to you? Of course that's tacky and I would never do it.

 

[Blade28]

I believe that I seriously changed the battery in my med school pager more times than it went off.
...
The sound of my pager (or pagers on some nights) is worse than an alarm clock for me now.

(1) Pretty much my experience as well! No one ever pages you as a med student.

(2) Ditto.

I have fantasized about taking my future pager to college/ high school homecoming to show my classmates "oooooh OMG, you must be important."

What do they say about pagers these days? Only doctors and drug dealers still use them, right? 🙂

 

[drvechman]

You remember that day in med school, when everyone got their first pager? And how it was so cool and so exciting? And how you almost felt like a real doctor? And how many med students would wear them proudly 24/7, even if they weren't even on an MS-III rotation yet?

Yeah, that novelty (just like the thrill of being called "Doctor") wore off quickly.

I've become so traumatized by the sound of my pager's beep that when I hear it coming from another person's pager, not only does my right hand instinctively reach for my right hip, but I get filled with an inescapable sense of dread and despair.

I personally always laughed at those students who were excited to get a beeper. How could you not know the weight that said pager carried?!? HA! Fools! But I guess that's why I'm choosing a specialty where I don't have to wear one

 

[TRAMD]

I have fantasized about taking my future pager to college/ high school homecoming to show my classmates "oooooh OMG, you must be important."


Isn't that disturbing to you? Of course that's tacky and I would never do it.

Not tacky at all. Take it out in public. Find a group of cute girls. Get yourself near them and push the button to make it beep. Act like you are annoyed with the pager and get out your cell phone. Dial 6 numbers, wait a while and then say "This is Dr. ______" in a deep voice. Wait a while and then say "Normal Saline at 100ccs per hour with 20 milliequivalents of potassium chloride" and then 'hang up' your phone.

 

[VALSALVA]

This is why I love emergency medicine - NO PAGER! But alas, I'm on trauma surgery this month and the pager is once again the bane of my existance...but only for a while. 🙂

 

[Drogba]

Not tacky at all. Take it out in public. Find a group of cute girls. Get yourself near them and push the button to make it beep. Act like you are annoyed with the pager and get out your cell phone. Dial 6 numbers, wait a while and then say "This is Dr. ______" in a deep voice. Wait a while and then say "Normal Saline at 100ccs per hour with 20 milliequivalents of potassium chloride" and then 'hang up' your phone.

Awesome advice. Best part is you don't even need an MD to do this, just a beeper (need not be in-service, could even be a toy) and a cell phone.

 

[Long Dong]

One time my pager went off and I checked and it had 4 new pages come in all at once. I said owe hell no, man does internship suck a$$.

 

[Hayduke]

One time my pager went off and I checked and it had 4 new pages come in all at once. I said owe hell no, man does internship suck a$$.

Medicine night float, ~60 pts. on the list, 3 simul-pages while I'm calling back on an earlier beep.
The thing starts ringing continuous tones. I set it on the desk and scooted away just staring at it.
The nurses standing around the station stopped talking and watch me/it. Awesome night nurse starts giggling then deadpans "look out folks it's gonna blow". I don't know if she meant me or the pager.
7 back-to-backs. D@mn I dig this the most!

 

[Winged Scapula]

One time my pager went off and I checked and it had 4 new pages come in all at once. I said owe hell no, man does internship suck a$$.

Aieee....the DERM RESIDENT got a page!!! The horror!

 

[Blade28]

Aieee....the DERM RESIDENT got a page!!! The horror!

Don't worry, 6 more months and it'll all be over for him.

Overnight calls? ER consults? 30+ hour shifts? Will all be nothing but a distant memory. 🙂

 

[Long Dong]

Don't worry, 6 more months and it'll all be over for him.

Overnight calls? ER consults? 30+ hour shifts? Will all be nothing but a distant memory. 🙂

Word

 

[Hurricane]

Who is this "they"? Does anyone know where pagers are made? Are they handed up to someone directly from hell?

"They" live in this dank dark hole in the hospital basement, which is so far underground it probably is a portal to hell. And I was told the magic words are "it just stopped working and I tried replacing the battery" because if you tell them you dropped it in the toilet, they make you pay for a new one. Like I would pay anybody actual money for the pleasure of carrying that evil thing.

My pager has been off since about July 1, 2007.

Anyone who needs me better damn well be one of the R3 or R4s, a surgical attending, the charge in the OR, or the charge on the surgical ward, and they all call me on my cell phone.

One of my attendings gives her patients her cell phone number! And they send her text messages that they are suicidal. But she says she actually gets called less now than when she had an answering service, because the patients are more hesitant to bother her unless it's really important. I am skeptical...

 

[Blade28]

Word

👍

 

[Annette]

I tried vibrate for a while because I couldn't stand the sound any longer. I would get this odd vibration feeling when the pager wasn't even near me!

I once had so many pages in a short period of time the operator felt sorry for me!!! (Now beat that!)

 

[Winged Scapula]

"They" live in this dank dark hole in the hospital basement, which is so far underground it probably is a portal to hell. And I was told the magic words are "it just stopped working and I tried replacing the battery" because if you tell them you dropped it in the toilet, they make you pay for a new one. Like I would pay anybody actual money for the pleasure of carrying that evil thing.

I did that (dropped pager in the toilet) TWICE in the same night; 45 minutes apart. At that time they didn't make us pay for them, but they ordered these little leashes to go on them. I hear my former program does charge now.🙄

One of my attendings gives her patients her cell phone number! And they send her text messages that they are suicidal. But she says she actually gets called less now than when she had an answering service, because the patients are more hesitant to bother her unless it's really important. I am skeptical...

Tis true...however, the few high maintenance types that have no qualms about calling you on your cell will more than make up for those that won't call, IMHO. I have given out my email, but I cannot imagine giving out my cell...then again, I have a very high maintenance patient population.

 

[DrDawg]

This frickin' stupid piece of junk! Doesn't it realize in its stupid plastic-encased head that I hate it so much and could so easily destroy it, never to return?

Tell me what you think about your digital-satan-hip-buddy.

Sounds like you need to sit down with the pager whisperer. Maybe there is a market for this with the writers strike. Perhaps naming it would help?

Best thing about research year is you nearly never get paged. Bad thing is when you do it typically someone asking you to cover a shift/call for them.

 

[Blade28]

Best thing about research year is you nearly never get paged. Bad thing is when you do it typically someone asking you to cover a shift/call for them.

Agreed.

Well, my pager DOES go off during my moonlighting shifts, but it's a rare occurence. 🙂

 

[Annette]

Have you ever had your pants fall off because of the weight of all your pagers?

 

[Blade28]

Have you ever had your pants fall off because of the weight of all your pagers?

When I used to carry my Treo, pager, trauma pager and trauma phone on my waistband, I'd constantly be retying the drawstring of my scrub pants to avoid such a scenario!

 

[doctawife]

Have you ever had your pants fall off because of the weight of all your pagers?

Hells yeah. But at least not in a public area - I was in my call room at the time. But yeah. The lethal combo for me was: Spectralink phone, pager, code pager, ID badge, wallet in the back pocket & cell phone.

Anyone else have to deal with Spectralinks, or is it just me? They are like little ringing cancers. Barnes and Noble stores also use these beasties, so I get hives every time I go book shopping.

 

[Long Dong]

Have you ever had your pants fall off because of the weight of all your pagers?

Yep all the time lately

Hells yeah.

Anyone else have to deal with Spectralinks, or is it just me? They are like little ringing cancers. Barnes and Noble stores also use these beasties, so I get hives every time I go book shopping.

Yep those damn spectralink phone, the newborn pager, my own pager and my smart phone. People think I sag my scrubs cuz I'm from the LBC and snoop dog's homie, but I just can't keep them up with all this crap on my waist.

 

[telenurse]

Well, you might enjoy this one...the resident must have been thinking "Payback " every darn time.

We have these stupid cell phones that are assigned to us each day at work, that are also rigged into the call light system. So when as a nurse if the phone rings it could be a call light, or someone calling you

We had a pt who possibly had a retroperitoneal bleed , had a vasospasm in her leg that had the femoral venous puncture and we could barely doppler pulses, vagaled, and was getting serial h/h's.

I had 5 other pt's...and was fairly busy

The resident called me faithfully q1 hour to check on the retro bleed pt, and let the phone ring and ring and ring and ring and rrrriiiiinnnng and rrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggggggggggg until I'd finally have to stop whatever I was doing (read finish taking someone off bedpan), rip off my gloves and answer...

 

[njbmd]

This frickin' stupid piece of junk! Doesn't it realize in its stupid plastic-encased head that I hate it so much and could so easily destroy it, never to return?

Tell me what you think about your digital-satan-hip-buddy.

PAGER = it only goes off when you are:

• Just sitting down on the "porcelain convenience" and you have been putting this off all day.
• Just put your feet up on the call-room bed.
• Just closed your eyes for two seconds.
• Just ordered your food in the cafe.
• Just took your first bite of food in the cafe and you haven't eaten all day.
• Just closed your car door and you haven't started the engine yet.
• Just walked into the gym.
• Just finished a 10-hour case.

Now I have a phone/pager where they get me instead of me directly. It has the advantages of me being able to answer the questions directly but it has the disadvantage of them being able to get me directly.

 

[Blade28]

I had 5 other pt's...and was fairly busy

The resident called me faithfully q1 hour to check on the retro bleed pt, and let the phone ring and ring and ring and ring and rrrriiiiinnnng and rrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggggggggggg until I'd finally have to stop whatever I was doing (read finish taking someone off bedpan), rip off my gloves and answer...

Ah yes, that happens to us all the time. 🙂

Except, of course, we may have anywhere from 15-75 patients. 🙁

 

[GoofyDoc]

PAGER = it only goes off when you are:

• Just sitting down on the "porcelain convenience" and you have been putting this off all day.
• Just put your feet up on the call-room bed.
• Just closed your eyes for two seconds.
• Just ordered your food in the cafe.
• Just took your first bite of food in the cafe and you haven't eaten all day.
• Just closed your car door and you haven't started the engine yet.
• Just walked into the gym.
• Just finished a 10-hour case.

Ahh, yes. Whenever i'm on call, every time I finally get food I will invariably get paged the minute I sit down about some patient who happens to be crashing at that moment. Food goes uneaten. I now get anxious just by thinking about food and the inevitable upgrade I will have to deal with if i just try to eat. 🙁

 

[Hernandez]

I have dreams that I'm being paged frequently.

I only wish that the manufacture of the pagers also made cell phones, my pager seems to tolerate long drops and kicking that a "top notch" cell phone would shatter noisily from.

 

[TRAMD]

I have dreams that I'm being paged frequently.

I only wish that the manufacture of the pagers also made cell phones, my pager seems to tolerate long drops and kicking that a "top notch" cell phone would shatter noisily from.

It might be possible that cell-phone manufacturers want you to pay $300 for a replacement phone . . .

 

[Richie Truxillo]

I've become so traumatized by the sound of my pager's beep that when I hear it coming from another person's pager, not only does my right hand instinctively reach for my right hip, but I get filled with an inescapable sense of dread and despair.

I have this strange Phantom Pager Syndrome (PPS) also, and I am only an MS 4! Oh the horror!

I did drop my pager in the toliet once on a rotation. Upon fishing it out my senior told me not to worry about wearing it anymore. Got text messaged from then on which was MUCH better than carrying the pager since I only got messages for truly important stuff. I wish I could drop all my pagers in the toliet like that. 🙂 But no, I am doomed to carry the almighty pager forever.

Have you ever had your pants fall off because of the weight of all your pagers?

Yep. Scrubs + Pager = bad.

 

[Solideliquid]

PAGER = it only goes off when you are:

• Just closed your car door and you haven't started the engine yet.

• 
  
  
  
  Happens ALL THE TIME!!!
  
  Just happened to me on call Wednesday, and for half a second a small smile crept onto my face as I imagined my tire running over the pager...then switch to reverse over and over and... then I had to call the damn medicine resident back.