Why Do Doctors Still Use Pagers?
How hospitals got stuck in the ’90s.
"Surely there’s a better way for doctors to communicate, yet pagers remain the maddening norm. Why? For one thing, they’re low-maintenance. The batteries in pagers don’t need to be changed more than once every few weeks, even with heavy use. That means the system will work even during a disaster or power outage, when it might be hard to find a working outlet to charge a cellphone.
Another major benefit struck me recently as I chatted on my phone while strolling through the bowels of the hospital. The building’s seemingly unending corridors form a maze that leads unfortunate employees, and occasionally a stray patient, into the malodorous depths of the building. This labyrinth isn’t exactly amenable to good cellphone service, and as I turned a corner, my call was dropped. That’s no big deal when I’m talking to a friend, but if I were on the line with another staff member, a dropped call could lead to frustrated and possibly deadly confusion.
Paging networks have more broadcast power than those for cellphones, which makes the signals better at penetrating buildings. They also rely on satellites to relay messages. As a result, pager messages are broadcast to multiple towers in a given area at the same time. That boosts reliability because even if one pager tower stopped working, another could pick up the satellite’s signal."
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