Will social media banish the bleep? An analysis of hospital pager activity and instant messaging patterns

BMJ Open Quality

article

Nicholas R Fuggle¹  Helen Harrison³  Ben MacArthur² 

[1] MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit , University of Southampton;The Alan Turing Institute;University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust;Centre for Human Development, Stem Cells and Regeneration , University of Southampton;Mathematical Sciences , University of Southampton

关键词: communication;    hospital medicine;    management;    information technology;   

DOI  :  10.1136/bmjoq-2020-001100

学科分类：药学

来源: BMJ Publishing Group

【 摘 要 】

Pagers or ‘bleeps’ have been used for intrahospital communication for over 30 yearsbut are time inefficient and antiquated. Toinvestigate how social media has affected theuse of pagers we compared pager activity withinstant messaging patterns over a 6-monthperiod in a large, UK, teaching hospital.In 2017, it was estimated that 10% of theworld’s pagers were used in the UK NationalHealth Service at an estimated cost of £6.6million/year (a figure which does notinclude network costs or cost incurred byinefficiency).1This antiquated technology is associatedwith a number of issues. Pagers are typicallyassociated with substantial time inefficiency,2a quarter of pager messages are unnecessary3and 65% interrupt patient care.4 Understandably, therefore, pagers are not popularwith doctors.2 In response to these shortcomings, the UK Health and Social CareSecretary has called for the health service to‘#purgethepager’.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC|CC BY|CC BY-NC-ND