Why do doctors still use pagers?

Pagers might seem a bit old fashioned...but there are actually a few good reasons why we still use them!

[gerardacronin]

All quite correct. Paging technology is not obsolete in the context of hospitals. The best pager is the one you can hand over at the end of your on call shift.

[NothingElseMatters]

Being in the medical field myself, I know this is perfect. Patients don’t want you to be looking at your phone whenever there is a call or text. With a pager, everyone knows it’s hospital related. Most possibly an emergency.

[helloimreallyfuckingbored]

He gives all these logical explanations and then just says “the hospital likes them tho cuz they’re cheap”
That makes sense

[JustAnotherDronePilot]

I used to work at a hospital as a guard. In the time where we were having issues with our radios not properly working throughout certain sections, we were given pagers to respond to critical events that needed immediate attention as a fallback. Even after our communication issues with our radios were fixed, we still maintained pager use to ensure that if we had garbled transmission, the pagers would help as well.

[JJKA]

During my electives in Portland, somehow my pager got lost- I don't know how up to today. A patient found it a distance away from the hospital and returned it. I had not visited that part of Portland before. So I guess thieves have no interest in pagers unlike a phone. Another advantage.

[JoeyKlu]

I remember using my father's pager to check out the weather report back in 1995 or so and thinking as I saw the light grey text scroll across the tiny little screen: "The future... it's here!"
They are more utilitarian, though. It makes sense.

[khyrand]

I also appreciate that every ringtone on my pager will wake me up, whereas I can sleep through anything my cell phone can throw at me.

[jillybean]

Worked as a nurse for 30 years. This man has potential to be a great doctor.
Best wishes for his career.

[FernandoChaves]

My father was an anesthesiologist. I grew up with him tied to a pager. I remember calling the hospital operator numerous times to page my father. She knew who I was. That was in the day when she actually plugged into the connection required. I had her page him, he called her, then she physically plugged his connection in the hospital into my incoming line. There were no cell phones at that time, later there were a few, but pagers were still used. I got my first pager as a 3rd year med student, I handed it off to the next student on call. To me, the real question would be why would doctors not still use pagers. They are not paging you, they are paging the "insert position" on call. You: GI. Me: Surgery. Another: Ortho. Another: Cardio. Another: Pulmonary. Another: You don't page a person, you page a specialty, or a department...whatever fills the need.

[IamNerfDart]

My understanding is that inside hospitals they basically have a cell tower or a central transmiter in side that hospital that only can be used by the pagers so they don't have to pay for a sim card and data plan for every pager, they just use their own system.

[sarahb]

In addition to pagers, sometimes we use those old indestructible Nokia-looking phones in the hospital because they work anywhere regardless of cell service. The batteries are the worst part. They charge at a battery-charging station but sometimes half the batteries are just broken or the ports for charging the batteries aren't working, so you're on a manhunt looking for a charged battery while hoping that no one calls you for anything urgent as your phone is close to dying.

[freezingdart]

I like the serious videos that break this stuff down. Not that the sketches are bad, this is just nice and digestible.

[lilyrudy]

Thanks for your awesome content. It's helped me understand how hospitals work and helped me navigate the system better as a patient adovcate!

[emilywhittle]

My step dad is a 78 year old doctor who still works at our hospital in my province. He still rocks a pager, so me and my step siblings bought him cool pager cases for himself for Christmas. He loved them.

[LisaEHaw]

I work in Germany and the doctors all have their own work phones that look like a mixture of oldschool mobile phones and wireless landline phones. And then every team has like 2-5 phones that are handed over at every shift change.

[HBatch]

Having a parent in the ICU, being able to have the doctor's complete attention is priceless. Had they had a phone instead of a pager, they may have been distracted by that. Newer hospitals tend to have better cell service but most hospitals aren't new and have zero service, the wifi though is strong

[stevejodoin]

My thoughts exactly! Pager=work. Cell phone=private.

I'm a nurse who has a work phone.... I HATE it. There is no time respected. All hours of the day and night, I receive calls and texts, and people get irate if I don't answer right away. I've started locking it in my desk when I go home. I'm paid for my work hours, not to answer a phone at 2 am. Constantly being tied to a phone (24/7) for work in medicine with no off days is mentally and emotionally draining. The work phone and seeing the emails pile up is super stressful. I am so glad you have a pager. You should be able to step away and distance yourself from work when you're home.

[thatgammerguy]

I work in an ER in MN and we have iPhones with Vocera that we check out at the beginning of our shift for the ER docs, RNs and techs. We can call and text. I think we’re the only department that gets phones though, the rest of the hospital uses these little clip on voice controlled voceras and pagers.

[juliagreenough]

As switch board i love when a doctor has a pager. People notice their pages more then they go through there voicemails so they are usually better at getting back to us then doctors that miss a phone call.