Why do docs use pagers?

[ATPMD]

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At least we're still on topic...most of the time by this many responses we are talking about something totally random!😀

I asked why they're used, that got answered about a dozen posts back😀 That's part of the internet forum fun though 🙂 Seems that coverage is the driving force.


BTW, OPs disappearing is one of my SDN pet peeves.

The question stimulated so much interesting discussion, that I figured I was in over my head, so I just read quietly🙂

Pardon my manners though. Thanks to all the folks that have answered the question, and those who answered questions left unasked

 

[sacrament]

There is no good evidence that modern cell phones interfere significantly with medical equipment.

Yes, yes, yes, and thank you. This is one of my many crusades: to drop the f-ing ridiculous cell phone ban in our ICU.

The nurses will take hours to respond to my stat orders. The nurses will neglect to inform me that my patient has been in SVT all night long. The nurses will seem to have no understanding or regard for any basic principles of human medicine. But! walk down the hallway talking on a cellphone and the nurses will spring up enraged, suddenly the hospital's most diligent patient advocates, and ask if you if you're aware that your cell phone is causing waves of torsades to cascade throughout the ICU or whatever.

 

[f_w]

Love, I mean really love my NexTel. Even the Sprint buyout couldn't kill it!

- the PTT/direct connect feature
- setting up call groups for the PTT feature
- functioning pager
- 1 button access to voicemail
- incoming calls free
- per-second billing
- professional accessories (hardwired car-cradle with roof antenna, discrete earpiece with PTT button)

Nothing on the market (in the US) that beats it.

 

[turquoiseblue]

Every hospital has a system in which all calls through the system are logged. So if you are making harassing phone calls to the nurses station, they can document those as easily as they can document when a nurse says she paged # X 15 times and you never answered.

I wonder--
Do hospitals record your calls (as in the verbal aspect) within the hospital?

I wish the system could document when your pager died and if it is dead, so that nurses know what the real deal is, and not that ur just not answering and they can page you alternate ways. I think nurses should always keep your cell number on hand in case of such emergencies and leave a voicemail or text if you can't answer your pages for some reason. Overheads never seem to work..there's no telling how many doctors or attendings have ur same last name or full name, even if you do hear them. In some cases you don't hear overheads in call-rooms which is even worse.

It's nice to know the ins and outs so you know how to get yourself out of a jam. 🙂

 

[dpmd]

When I was in Cali, a lot of the hospitals used Spectralink wireless phones. Voice communiation without cellular airtime cost and lower-power transmission meant reduced possible interference with medical equipment.

I'd imagine the cost would be between pagers and cell phones.

Haven't seen them here in Bflo.

I don't know if it is true, but we were told our spectralink phones cost $1000 (for just the phone, not sure how the usage was handled). The recently gave one to the chiefs, in addition the the ones the trauma team and night float use. Only people in our department know the numbers, so it is mainly for the person to return pages, or make calls from. We still have pagers, but when you have the phone it is a little more convenient (although using the cellphone for walking and talking is pretty good too). There are a few dead areas for the spectralink in our hospital though.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I wonder--
Do hospitals record your calls (as in the verbal aspect) within the hospital?

I doubt it, since wiretapping without prior knowledge is illegal (except for the US government 😉 ).

I wish the system could document when your pager died and if it is dead, so that nurses know what the real deal is, and not that ur just not answering and they can page you alternate ways.

How often is your pager dead? 😕 I just put new batteries in mine when that happened. Batteries were always available from the operator, the program coordinator or at the nurses station.

 

[turquoiseblue]

I doubt it, since wiretapping without prior knowledge is illegal (except for the US government 😉 ).]
Nice!😀



How often is your pager dead? 😕 I just put new batteries in mine when that happened. Batteries were always available from the operator, the program coordinator or at the nurses station.

well it was dead the first day..they gave me a low powered battery because it was the last one available, and I wasn't familiar with the pager yet, so I didn't realize it was already on low. So basically even a low battery will drop pages, and when it died it was at it's wits end. Here batteries were only found in the dungeon of the operator room way down in the basement and nowhere else. 👎hardy:

 

[bryanboling5]

I will break someones fingers if they try to put a vocera on me. Those are the most annoying f'ing things. "Call ______." "Did you say 'cambodia?'" "No dammit".

Amen! I worked in the ER when we got those things and I frequently "forgot" to get mine out of the charger base. Once, I was in a room drawing blood on a big schizophrenic kid (I'm 6'2", he was several inches taller than me and had about 60 pounds on me). He was eerily calm and then decided to kill me. I was pinned against the wall and trying to use that vocera thing to call for help. "I'm sorry, I did not udnerstand. I'm sorry, I did not understand." I finally had to kick a mayo stand over against the door to make enough noise that help came running. What a piece of crap. I almost busted it against the wall after that. I don't work at that hospital now and I've heard that they took vocera house-wide. Honestly, that is a big reason that I would think twice about ever working there again.

 

[Winged Scapula]

well it was dead the first day..they gave me a low powered battery because it was the last one available, and I wasn't familiar with the pager yet, so I didn't realize it was already on low.

Fair enough, it can be hard to learn how to work a brand new pager.

So basically even a low battery will drop pages, and when it died it was at it's wits end. Here batteries were only found in the dungeon of the operator room way down in the basement and nowhere else. 👎hardy:

So why not go down and get them when you realized the pager was dead? I dunno about you, but when I first got my pager I was obsessive about checking it to make sure I didn't miss any pages and was constantly rounding on the floors to make sure people knew who I was. I doubt I missed many pages even with a new pager.

 

[f_w]

Fair enough, it can be hard to learn how to work a brand new pager.

At one point, I had a pager that had enough computing power to do a corporate income tax return, but finding lets say the third last page and its timestamp was actually impossible. Now I am back to a early 90s 1-button Motorola L-series brick which doesn't even have a clock or any other frills on it. It beeps and it displays a phone#, that's all. Works for me.

but when I first got my pager I was obsessive about checking it to make sure I didn't miss any pages and was constantly rounding on the floors to make sure people knew who I was. I doubt I missed many pages even with a new pager.

A reprint of a jama article on the pathology of resident beeper carriage:

http://www.neonatology.org/pearls/beeper.html

 

[Winged Scapula]

A reprint of a jama article on the pathology of resident beeper carriage:

http://www.neonatology.org/pearls/beeper.html

Thanks for the link...its been a source of amusement for me for years.

When I was an intern, we had those old Motorolas like you describe. I was taking home call from the VA during a wintry January in central Pennsylvania. I got paged for a late night admit and had to drive in 30 minutes from home to admit the patient (a transfer that the attending "forgot" to tell us about).

Well, it was very snowy, very dark (the VA is out in the middle of nowhere, with no street lights around, etc. Lots of rural land.) and I am a novice snow driver. So I am leaning forward in my car and every now and again and I hear "rcccckkkkkk". I lean back, turn the radio down and don't hear anything. So I proceed to continue driving, fearful my car is going to break down (I don't have a cell...in those days, you could actually find a pay phone).

Again, "rccckkkkk", and turn down the radio, only to hear nothing.

It must have taken me 5 times of this to realize that my pannus, even as small as it was then, was leaning over the pager as I was gripping the steering wheel and leaning in, and pressing the button on top which resulted in a static fuzz sound.