pager doesn't wake me

[80ruby]

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Im a heavy sleeper and from my experience as a MS3 and 4 the standard pager ring only wakes me ~70% of the time. Does anyone know of any compaines making louder pagers. Has anyone else had this problem. I really don't want pt. care to be affected since I am starting my intership soon. Thanks.

 

[ramonaquimby]

the one thing i can say is that now that you'll truly be the one responsible for patient care, it's harder to fall into that 'deeper' sleep on nights on call. threfore, the beeper volume will be adequate.

and don't keep the beeper too close - youll eitehr roll over it or just turn it off withotu knowing it. keep it *jsut* out of arms reach (too far away and you may not hear it after all!)

good luck!

 

[raidermedic]

A trick I used is to put it on vibrate then leave it on the counter or other hard surface. The sound of the pager bouncing up and down on the surface is like a jack hammer and impossible to sleep through.

 

[Blade28]

Agree with ramonaquimby - once you're a resident and 100% responsible for your service's patients, you won't sleep though it. In-house call or home call, you won't be sleeping too soundly. 🙂

 

[AmoryBlaine]

I have the same problem. Clip it to the collar of your shirt/scrubs. If you can sleep through that you are amazing.

 

[elizabeth5863]

How about setting an alarm clock at certain times (i.e. 3 a.m. and 6 a.m.) and then waking up and checking to see if you have any pages? If not, then you can go back to sleep. The thing is, if you don't have any pages, it disrupts your sleep. And it does not wake you up at the time of the page. If you're doing home call, maybe ask a significant other/spouse/etc. to wake you up if they hear the pager coming off. (I missed a page once as a med student; fortunately, I didn't get into trouble but the team rounded before me and I felt really really bad and guilty).

 

[deleted87716]

I have the same problem. Clip it to the collar of your shirt/scrubs. If you can sleep through that you are amazing.

That might work, but it's possible to roll over and muffle the pager with the pillow or sheets.

We had Motorola pagers, which always seem to have most of the same tones from model to model. I always selected the loudest, most obnoxious, high-pitched sound, and put the pager on the nightstand right next to my head. Never slept through a single page. In fact, that sound still makes me cringe to this day. 😉

 

[tibor75]

I have the same problem. Clip it to the collar of your shirt/scrubs. If you can sleep through that you are amazing.

I'm not sure if that works since if you roll onto your stomach, the sound will be muffled.

I know from experience. 😀

 

[njbmd]

Im a heavy sleeper and from my experience as a MS3 and 4 the standard pager ring only wakes me ~70% of the time. Does anyone know of any compaines making louder pagers. Has anyone else had this problem. I really don't want pt. care to be affected since I am starting my intership soon. Thanks.

If you place your pager on the nightstand, you are likely to hear it and you won't roll over on it. You are probably going to be stuck with the pager that is issued to you as a resident and won't be able to change things much.

As others have said, when you become responsible for patient's you tend not to sleep as soundly when you are on call. If you are on home call, have your pages sent to your phone (hope it's louder and not annoying for your SO).

One of my colleagues had the same problem. He just didn't sleep on call nights but sat upright in a chair. The funny thing was that I could hear his page in my call-room next door and bang on the wall. I can also hear the thing downstairs clipped to my purse when I am upstairs in the bedroom. I guess I am a light sleeper.

 

[gwen]

hmm, interesting thread.

has anyone ever had phantom pager syndrome (i just made that up)? i was in india visiting relatives when i thought my pager was going off. i've also heard "code blue, room ..." randomly like at a mall when they're saying something totally different overhead. its scary. i need to get out of the hospital!

 

[werewethere]

Auditory hallucinations (or premonitions, maybe), hmmm, sounds like you're about halfway done with your residency. How do you tell the real apart from the imagined or do you answer both? You should either leave the hospital or move to the secured floor, if you don't work there already. I haven't achieved such enlightment in my training yet, but any day now...

 

[GoofyDoc]

hmm, interesting thread.

has anyone ever had phantom pager syndrome (i just made that up)? i was in india visiting relatives when i thought my pager was going off. i've also heard "code blue, room ..." randomly like at a mall when they're saying something totally different overhead. its scary. i need to get out of the hospital!

I always have my pager on vibrate mode, so I don't imagine sounds. But when I'm home or at the mall or anywhere I always find myself startled by the sensation of a pager buzzing. 😕

 

[gwen]

ahh, i'm actually almost a year into being a hospitalist attending. so the hallucinations were back in residency. still, i hear the "code blue" at different places.

and i also have imagine the pager buzzing on my belt when its definitely not on me. crazee!

 

[BlackSails]

Crack your pager open, remove the speaker, and attack the wires to your hand.

/kidding

 

[Tigger14]

While it is true that sleep is lighter on call, I still have slept through my pager... do not underestimate the power of profound exhaustion. If you are lucky enough to lay down somewhere, let the operator and your coresidents know where you are and the number to the room.

Having said that, I had a senior who would turn off her pager, and take the phone off the hook so no one could find her; that's a completely different problem.

 

[Blade28]

If you're doing home call, maybe ask a significant other/spouse/etc. to wake you up if they hear the pager coming off.

Anyone who has a SO that will wake you up whenever your pager goes off...is darn lucky!

 

[bryanboling5]

There was an intern at my hospital on the Trauma service one year. He slept through a code page. Luckily, the senior also responded, but his attending REAMED him at rounds, in front of the whole ICU (it was one of those awkward moments where you're so embarassed FOR someone...)! From then on, he used to set his pager to vibrate and tape it to his forehead! I swear I'm not making this up. It was the craziest thing I ever saw, you could peek in his call room and there he was, asleep with a pager taped to his face. 🙂 Never missed another page, though...

 

[musm2008]

Do residents know that is a medical student's worst nightmare to sleep through a page? What do you think when they do? Should we apologize profusely?

 

[gwen]

honestly, if you know the person's personality (be it a resident or med student), you can tell if they ignored a page or were really in deep sleep.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Do residents know that is a medical student's worst nightmare to sleep through a page? What do you think when they do? Should we apologize profusely?

Call when you wake up, tell us when you'll be there, apologize profusely and never let it happen again.

As noted above, we sort of know when its a honest mistake (its happened to most of us) and when you are a slacker trying to get away with something (or have a medical problem - I had a resident I'm convinced had OSA).

 

[2ndyear]

Clip the pager to your ear, the upper lobe so it's sitting directly in your ear canal. Now take some Kerlix and wrap it around your head to hold it in place so when you turn over/thrash about in bed it won't fall off. Don't forget to remove the Kerlix before going to the floor.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Clip the pager to your ear, the upper lobe so it's sitting directly in your ear canal. Now take some Kerlix and wrap it around your head to hold it in place so when you turn over/thrash about in bed it won't fall off. Don't forget to remove the Kerlix before going to the floor.

Very amusing. Reminds me of an attending who would wrap his head with Kerlex before putting on his head lamp presumably to mop up his prodigious sweat. He always looked a bit looney whilst doing it.

 

[PainDr]

There was an intern at my hospital on the Trauma service one year. He slept through a code page. Luckily, the senior also responded, but his attending REAMED him at rounds, in front of the whole ICU (it was one of those awkward moments where you're so embarassed FOR someone...)! From then on, he used to set his pager to vibrate and tape it to his forehead! I swear I'm not making this up. It was the craziest thing I ever saw, you could peek in his call room and there he was, asleep with a pager taped to his face. 🙂 Never missed another page, though...

It works! We had an intern who frequently slept through pages, so he set his pager to vibrate and taped it to his forehead. Never missed another page. Also, most of you shouldn't worry...when YOU'RE the one responsible for pt care, you'll be much less likely to sleep through pages.

 

[Midwest Medic]

I used to sleep through pages about once a month or so. It seemed that the only time I would do this was if I was paged within the first twenty minutes or so of laying down. I always told the nursing staff that if I never returned a page within 5 minutes to page me again, and keep going...
Also, as with the above post, I had a friend who always brought a 80's style headband/sweatband and wore that to bed. He would place his pager right on his forehead and put it on vibrate. It would scare the jeepers out of him, but he never missed a page!

 

[acrunchyfrog]

I always used to dump my EMS and SAR pagers (set on vibrate) into a couple of empty tin cans on my night stand. I can sleep thru all sorts of stuff but that rattling sound woke me right up...