ER Physicians -- Cellphones vs. Pagers

Some hospitals don't permit people to use cellphones on the wards as they interfer with monitoring equipment

So there are different levels of physicians in an ER - you have your attendings at the top and then residents. The residents are training for several years. The residents are the ones seeing the patients then will present the case to the attending who will agree with or make changes to the recommendations. So ALL physicians carry pagers but the residents are the ones who will be paged by nurses and pharmacists with questions and by other physicians for consulting purposes. Some hospitals have wireless phones (NOT cellphones) that physicians will carry but most hospitals use the pager system. Let me know if you have other questions.

It totally depends on the hospital, level of education, etc. I've been an ER doc for almost 11 years, and I haven't used a pager since I was a resident. I don't know of any ER docs who have pagers-- most just utilize their smart phones. With today's monitoring capabilities, cell phones don't interfere with telemetry monitoring. When you see as sign for "No cell phones" it's usually just for politeness. It's not much fun to do an exam on a patient who is talking on the phone or texting. Believe me, it happens.

Some ERs have intercoms in the room, so they can find the docs when they need them for a phone call. Others, like the one I currently work in, use a system with a built-in walkie talkie. One just says, "call so-and-so" and the call goes through to the appropriate walkie talkie. Then a conversation can be had, not just having to run and make a phone call. Some level 1 trauma centers have a specific trauma pager that only goes off when a level 1, level 2, or trauma alert is coming in. But those don't go home with the doc-- they pick it up when they arrive for the shift.

Oh, and most ER doctors don't take "call." They're either in the hospital working, or they're off. There might be one doctor who is "on call" in case of illness, but that person rarely gets called in. It's one of the perks that attracts people to the specialty-- no call.

Nikki is right.

Also if it matters, when you get into rural areas there probably won't be any residents. A physician who has completed some sort of residency along with emergency classes like ACLS or an actual Emergency Medicine residency will be the one to see the patient. If they feel the patient warrants being admitted, they will contact one of the staff physicians on call in the specialty for which the patient needs to be admitted. That staff physician is the attending. Depending upon severity of the problem, the attending might come in right then, or they might ask the ER physician to tuck the patient in for the night and write admission orders.

The attending might use a pager, might use a cell phone. Here, I used a pager because where I lived, I could not get cell phone reception, but my pager would work. Other physicians who lived in town would just use their cell phones.

As Nikki said, those actually in the ER have shifts instead of call, so they don't need something that's long range and the hospital will probably even provide it. What system the hospital buys will probably depend on politics and price.

My son is constantly in the ER for his medical problems, and at the hospitals in Orlando, the doctors don't use cell phones or pagers. Instead, they have what looks like a bigger version of one of the old Nokia brick cell phones, but it is really a more complicated version of a walkie talkie. They said that this allows them to actually take calls, so patients can call them directly from their rooms, while also not interfering with any of the monitoring equipment.

waylander said:

Some hospitals don't permit people to use cellphones on the wards as they interfer with monitoring equipment.

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This isn't true in larger hospitals, such as the one in which I work. The newer monitors and systems related to them have been hardened against interference from cell phones. IIRC, I was told they had to be because it was impossible to prevent all patients or patient visitors from using them.

Our docs carry both pagers and cells. The reason for continuing to use the pagers is that if a cardiac or stroke code is called or a multiple trauma is expected, the computerized systems can page everyone on that list at the same time.