see a pager in today ’s technologically evolved reality is like spot a bridge player - cranked machine engine . In an era where the cell earpiece has replaced virtually every item in an one-time Radio Shack catalog , what ’s the full point of bind with a gimmick that has n’t evolved in 20 - unexpended age ?
For physician , the answer is that an anachronic electronic messaging system may still be well . Even though pager exercise hasdroppedfrom 61 million users in 1994 to less than six million today , hospital employees are helping to keep this seemingly redundant gimmick from obsolescence for two reasons . In an pressing - attention place , they may be more dependable than cell headphone receipt . secondly , hospitals are in no haste to elevate telecommunications .
“ The feeling has been that in hospitals where the bulwark are shielded due to MRIs , cells headphone are n’t general , ” says Fred Pelzman , M.D. , an internist affiliated with New York - Presbyterian Hospital . “ And hospitals will just evidence you , ‘ We use pager . ’ Cost is in all likelihood a gene in that . ”
By some estimates , more than 90 percent of hospital in the countryusea telecommunication system based around pagers . Typically , a affected role , nanny , or physician will phone a identification number designated for an pressing reaction ; a dispatch center will take the message , then meet the on - call MD . The doctor gets a page and repay the call .
It sound ineffective , and it is . One survey render that doctors liquidate up to45 minutesa 24-hour interval using a relay system . But according to Pelzman , have a consecrate cubicle phone for substance would n’t be quite the same . “ You have a pager when a patient is fluid . When a beeper goes off , your inherent aptitude is to immediately respond . I do n’t know you ’d get that same form of jolt if someone leave a voicemail . ” compare to cell phones , pagers do n’t need recharging — only batteries that necessitate to be changed every few months . They also can be relied upon in cases of a natural catastrophe cutting off prison cell towers because they do n’t use over - crowd mobile phone net .
Some hospitals are exploring alternative message systems like Vocera , avoice - work badgethat leave for near - inst consultation . But for Pelzman and many physicians , the distinctive beep of a pager would be a hard stimulus to allow behind . “ When my pager goes off in the eye of the nighttime , I ’m widely awake , ” he says . “ It ’s impress in my deoxyribonucleic acid . ”
