Remember that feeling of owning your very own pager for the first time? The instant I am an important feeling of having someone needing you to find a pay phone to call back the page number as soon as possible. Well, we have come a long way since then with the disruptive technology of smart phones. It has changed the way we communicate completely. Some say for the good and some say for the bad. Having a computer in your pocket that can instantly connect you to anyone in the world is amazing, however, that could also mean you are constantly plugged in to “the Matrix”.
One industry that used pagers longer then any other is the medical industry. Particularly, pagers in hospitals. Doctors have been using pagers for decades as a means to communicate with the switch operators/paging systems at hospitals. How come they never upgraded to text messages? Was it because of lack of robustness in the networks? The potential for missing messages in dead zones of the building? Security?
A London hospital is finally starting to get rid of pagers in exchange for modern technology. The solution is web-based and secure. It allows actual messages to the doctors. Perhaps the system could expand and include an indoor GPS tracking system to track where certain doctors are in the building in case of emergencies. Perhaps this type of system can be ported to a wearable display system with voice recognition thus allowing doctors to be hands-free while reading and responding to messages. Perhaps the doctor doesn’t even have to be in the hospital to help with the aid of AR/VR technology.
BrighterSight would be very interested in expanding on this type of solution into the world of wearables.
Check out more here:
http://lfpress.com/news/local-news/london-hospitals-punt-pagers-for-more-modern-tech
Related article:
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/new-app-to-speed-up-care-in-leeds-hosptials-1-9208320