Hospital Paging Systems The Rise of Contactless HealthTech

The modern ways of communication have changed drastically over the decades. The launch of smartphones is a pivotal reason behind this transformation. However, the hospital paging systems are constantly used by doctors and other members of the hospital staff. These archaic devices have undergone a technological resurgence and allow a contactless connection between the healthcare workers and patients in a hospital environment.

Importance of Contactless Communication In Hospitals

The need for contactless communication has become even more important in the post-Covid world. The healthcare industry is seeking technological solutions to minimize physical contact and interaction between healthcare workers and patients as the risks of rampant deaths with the novel coronavirus is looming globally.

The manufacturers such as Aidbell are providing contactless health tech – their modern medical paging systems – that can be considered the ultimate solutions to the ordeal with which the world is suffering from these days.

The hospital pagers are a great way to abate the risk of contracting the virus as it limits physical contact. The pagers are equipped to instantly notify doctors of their patients’ needs without having to go on rounds and physically reaching out to them. Though, it can be argued that smartphones are capable of reaching out to caregivers and are also a means of contactless communication, then what makes the modern paging systems so great?

Why Do Hospitals Prefer Pagers Over Smartphones?

Signal Reach & Strength – The medical staff paging systems use radio frequencies to transmit signals and messages and hence are extremely useful in the locations where the cell phone signals cannot reach. These areas may include the X-Ray zones that weaken the cell phone signals thus preventing the patient from reaching out for help and doctors to be constantly notified of the needs of their patients.  

Multiple Transmitters – Furthermore, the walls of the hospitals also tend to keep outside signals from reaching inside and block the ways of communication. Some hospitals also consider cell phone use inside the building hazardous. Since the pager uses radio signals, unlike the cell signals that only go to the nearest tower, the smart paging systems get signals from multiple satellites. Therefore, if a pager tower is down the repeating messages from different towers end up reaching the recipient within time.

Perpetual Reliability & Affordability – This aspect opens another front for debate that a medical facility can install a cell phone signal booster in the hospital. Since it costs thousands of dollars most hospitals are unwilling to spend that amount of money on communication needs, especially when they get a better option of reliable communication. The pagers allow the messages to be sent even during natural calamities when the cell phone signals get clogged up or the service towers are down.

Many Pagers are allowed to use at the same time. The paging systems are cheap and affordable and all medical facilities can purchase them easily to improve their healthcare services and to make their patients feel secure. The patients can easily call out to their caregivers, nurses, and doctors through these medical pager systems.

Zero Security Breaches – The security breach of the doctors’ cell phones makes it difficult for patients’ information to remain secure. Pagers keep confidential information safe because they only send numeric messages.

Long Battery Life – The throng of patients in hospitals can cause doctors and the other staff members of the hospital to be overworked. They become unable to keep track of their own needs during large-scale emergencies; such as the Covid-19 situation because their paramount priority is patients’ care. In these circumstances, it can be easily expected from them to forget the simplest of tasks of charging the phones. This is where the patient paging systems outdo smartphones as the most reliable health tech device. The batteries of these pagers can last for 3days without charging. An Aidbell stackable charger can charge 25 pagers at one time. Hence a healthcare paging system is a vital device for every healthcare service provider.

Waterproof – The chances of spilling water on one’s communication devices are extremely common and inevitable. The same can be said for a hospital setting where a patient might accidentally spill water on medical pagers, ruining them, and creating communication problems. On the flip side, simple and economical hospital pagers by Aidbell are waterproof. They can easily resist accidents involving water. This ensures an uninterrupted connection between the patients and the hospital staff.

Advanced Uses

Call Patient  – The medical pagers are also used in the waiting rooms and are often termed as the patient waiting room paging system. The device ensures sophistication as the patients are notified of their turn without having to shout their names. The patients when attending a clinic should be given a numbered pager at the front desk. Once the medical staff is ready to see the patient they can input the patient’s number via transmitter to send an instant alert. 

On-Call Alerts – The medical office paging system can be used to send on-call alerts to different doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff. The doctors and caregivers respond to the emergencies based on when they are scheduled to be on-calls.This prevents mismanagement during critical situations and ensures a smooth flow of work in hospitals in difficult times. The medical officers are notified of their on-call duties through pagers and since it is a reliable source of communication no alert of an on-call duty stands missed or unreceived.

Conclusion

The hospital pager systems are increasing in demand due to their benefits and innovative uses. These systems allow greater staff efficiency, a secure healthcare environment for the patients, immediate contact between patient and caregiver or hospital staff members. They are an excellent device to optimize patient flow in hospitals. Doubtless, these small telecommunication devices are contributing to the rise of health tech making contactless communication easy, reliable and affordable.

FAQs

Do doctors still use pagers?

Yes. Pagers continue to persist in hospitals and are actively used by doctors in this smartphone era. This is because many areas in the hospitals do not allow signals to reach properly leading to poor or no communication. This lack of communication can be fatal for patients in emergent circumstances and hence doctors prefer using pagers because they use high-frequency radio signals to operate.

How to use a pager?                     

Pagers are telecommunication devices used to send messages and connect with people in hard to reach locations. Every pager is given a unique code and those who want to send a message to that number/code simply input via wireless keypad/transmitter. The pagers receive the alert with their pre-set codes.

How do pagers work?

Modern paging systems are a part of a messaging system and use base transmitters to modulate signals. The pagers receive messages transmitted at radio frequency from a paging controller. They will alert the pager users with sound & flash, saying “it is your turn”. No noise, no shouting, create a silent hospital to help healing!