Why Wi-Fi and Smart Phones Are NOT the Best Choice for Critical Messaging
With the growing presence of smart phone usage by healthcare providers, why do so many healthcare professionals still rely on response paging for their critical alerts? The answer is simple – it is the MOST dependable communications media available. When you need to communicate a critical alert message, you need to be assured your message will get through. Recent natural disasters have shown that Wi-Fi and smart phone communications are severely impacted by these disasters. In addition, smart phone and Wi-Fi systems are much more costly and complex to operate. Also, a critical message should not have to be committed to memory. Who has a photographic memory or perfect recall of what has been communicated to us verbally? Not many people. A text message can be stored on the communication device and recalled for future reference. Voice messaging offers no such capabilities.
In addition, response paging devices are much less costly, ranging in price up to $150. A response paging device, using text as its communication medium, allows you to confirm that your message has been received and even who and how the recipient is responding to your critical message. When the content of a message is critical, text is by far the superior communication medium for relaying that message. The battery life of response pagers is also much longer than cell or smart phones. Who among us has not found their cell or smart phones dead or critically low on battery life? For individuals who need to use critical alert messaging, every message is important, time-critical and requires immediate attention. Users of critical alert messaging have clear choices when it comes to wireless solutions. Today, WiFi networks have become very common place in healthcare as well as the home. While WiFi offers some great capabilities, using Wi-Fi for critical messaging is NOT ONE of them. Your wireless communication solution MUST be available when you need it. Response paging is clearly the superior solution.