5 Pager Pet Peeves and Why They Should Go Away for Good

Pagers. You know, those annoying, ugly boxes from the early 90s, usually associated with doctors and dealers? Those one-way devices used for sending messages may have died nearly twenty years ago, yet they are still walking around like inattentive zombies in one place – care facilities. Hospitals, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities are keeping pagers alive. But, why? We’ve decided to make a list. Here are our top five reasons why it’s time to pull the plug on pagers:

  • The technology is outdated.

Pagers rose to popularity in the mid-90s, peaking in 1994, and have since been experiencing a slow and inevitable decline into obsolescence.  They cannot be update, and the one-sided technology leads patient care into the past! Pagers are so old, in fact, that some of our staff members had to look them up on Wikipedia to find out what we were talking about.

  • They’re ineffective.Screen Shot 2016-04-04 at 2.49.06 PM

What use is a basket full of pagers sitting at the front desk? In many hospitals still using pagers, this is the reality of the situation. If everyone is responsible for making sure that buzzing pagers are checked, no one is truly accountable for missed calls, making the entire system ineffective and unreasonable.

  • They’re one-trick ponies.

Pagers in hospital and other care facilities are almost always one-way communication devices. You wear this bulky, outdated box on your hip all day, and the only thing it can do is receive pages. Nurses and other hospital staff become fed up with the slow and outdated technology and tend to use their own, personal smart devices, leading to privacy and security issues for the care facility.

  • There are better options.

It’s 2016, and everyone walks around tethered to a smart device.  Because many care facilities ban personal smart devices due to privacy concerns, RCare has designed RCare Mobile™, a secure and customized mobile smart device designed for busy nursing staff, administration and professional caregivers. RCare Mobile’s “I Got It” feature creates an environment of seamless communication between all staff who have been alerted to an issue.

  • Your staff, your residents and your community deserve the latest and greatest in care.

Better response times, proper incident handling, and accountability features make for a less stressful workplace, more effective staff members and residents who feel more secure. Happy caregivers make for happy residents and a happy place to be.

So ditch the pagers and let RCare Mobile™ put more smiles in your world.