A pager dramatically increases the chances of those messages getting through. During emergencies, hospital staff might also need to reach hundreds of people at the same time. Instead of creating massive group texts, pagers can easily send a message to hundreds of people at the same time, says Dr. Ungerleider.

Why do doctors still use beepers?

But pagers are still in use because they're low maintenance, rarely need to be charged (and thus continue working during power outages) and can send group messages almost instantaneously (enabling healthcare providers to quickly notify a medical team of an emergency).

Do doctors still use pagers 2020?

For all the high-tech equipment doctors get to use, one thing seems pretty archaic: their pagers. ... In fact, nearly 80 percent of hospitals still use pagers, according to a study from the Journal of Hospital Medicine. No, doctors aren't just stubborn about leaving the dinosaur age of communication.