Call

[lockian]

I have either a weird or all too common problem. I take pager call through the night about monthly as part of my job, and I’m very afraid of sleeping through a page so I just… stay up. It’s not fun and I try to engineer my days off so that they are after the call days so I can sleep. It’s not a good use of time though.

In residency I never slept on call because there was so much to do, but now I get maybe one page every 4 months that comes in after midnight. The rest of the time it’s crickets. But I also do not wake up to regular phone calls if I’m asleep, so I question whether I would wake to a page. I don’t use an actual alarm — if I have to be up at a given time for work my body just somehow knows and I wake up 30 minutes to an hour beforehand. If I don’t need to be up I sleep until the cows come home and nothing can wake me.

How do others both get their sleep and wake up too? Any advice is appreciated.

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[calvnandhobbs68]

I also hated being on call for this reason…now I’m basically always “on call” though since we have an outpatient answering service that could call at any time.

I like to think of this the same way I process catastrophizing with anxious people. What’s the worst possible thing that happens if you sleep through an initial page or call? It’s psychiatry, highly unlikely anyone is going to die or anything terrible happens if someone can’t get ahold of you for an hour or two. Put the pager under your pillow if you’re that concerned it won’t wake you up but also be realistic about what the worst thing is if you don’t wake up right away to a page.

 

[Ironspy]

I'm a heavy sleeper and slept with the pager clipped to my bra in residency. There were a couple occasions where I was paged twice before waking up. Not the end of the world in psychiatry.

 

[Celexa]

Can the pages be forwarded to another place, like your phone, where you have more customization options for the sound?

How critical are the pages? Can you set an obnoxious alarm for 2-3x/night to periodically check the pager?

If this is covering inpatient, can you call the units at the beginning of the night and give them your phone number to call if you don't return the page in a certain amount of time, and then set your ring tone to something godawful?

If the pager vibrates literally sleeping with it might be an option as mentioned above, although that might not be enough to wake you.

 

[nexus73]

I’d tell the hospital to page first. Then if no response in 15 minutes call cell phone or home phone. And set your phone ringer to the loudest possibly setting plus vibrate which should wake you up.

 

[Bartelby]

I do what the two above advise. Loud pager plus obnoxious phone. If anything I jump awake for any page. There is no way to miss it.

 

[Stagg737]

I do what the two above advise. Loud pager plus obnoxious phone. If anything I jump awake for any page. There is no way to miss it.

This, idk how anyone can sleep through a page when it's the default tone at maximum volume unless they're chemically sedated. It's one of the most cloyingly distinct sounds I can think of and just the sound is conditioned strong enough in most docs I know that it creates some instant level of alertness.

 

[hallowmann]

I agree with others to place it close to your ears or head and also to have them try your phone if it doesn't work. If your body will wake up naturally, then you'll probably wake up to a page. Fear of not waking up is often unfounded and even if it still happens its not the end of the world.

I'm a heavy sleeper and slept with the pager clipped to my bra in residency. There were a couple occasions where I was paged twice before waking up. Not the end of the world in psychiatry.

Yeah, I definitely hung it on the inside of my shirt at my collar just so that it would vibrate on my chest if it went off. Have missed it exactly once when I fell asleep slumped forward and it hung in front of me not making direct contact with me.

I loved my setting on my old pager that would first vibrate and then ring at escalating volumes. They recently changed it, and my current pager is very annoying as it doesn't have this feature, stops beeping annoyingly soon after a page, and never alerts when the battery is low or runs out. It literally just stops working and says "Battery Low". It also burns through batteries a lot faster... /rant

 

[nexus73]

Get a visor style hat and cut the bill off and clip you pager right next to your ear before you fall asleep.

 

[Candidate2017]

This, idk how anyone can sleep through a page when it's the default tone at maximum volume unless they're chemically sedated. It's one of the most cloyingly distinct sounds I can think of and just the sound is conditioned strong enough in most docs I know that it creates some instant level of alertness.

I slept through pages a handful of times in residency. Sometimes, the pager tone got incorporated into a dream I was having. The missed pages always ended up being nonsense like cough syrup requests. It was great.

 

[deleted1100659]

Yes

I have either a weird or all too common problem. I take pager call through the night about monthly as part of my job, and I’m very afraid of sleeping through a page so I just… stay up. It’s not fun and I try to engineer my days off so that they are after the call days so I can sleep. It’s not a good use of time though.

In residency I never slept on call because there was so much to do, but now I get maybe one page every 4 months that comes in after midnight. The rest of the time it’s crickets. But I also do not wake up to regular phone calls if I’m asleep, so I question whether I would wake to a page. I don’t use an actual alarm — if I have to be up at a given time for work my body just somehow knows and I wake up 30 minutes to an hour beforehand. If I don’t need to be up I sleep until the cows come home and nothing can wake me.

How do others both get their sleep and wake up too? Any advice is appreciated.

This is such a hard thing that I had trouble conquering (back when I was in residency, now I dont have call). The concern was more the anticipation/anxiety for me, the fear of getting a page, lol. That part would drive me crazy as I am someone who likes to know the outcome of things and when something will happen (hence why I do outpatient).

The being a deep sleeper part I agree if you can forward it to your phone that would be ideal. You can usually set it to not only where it vibrates, but if you dont check your notifications it continues to vibrate until you do. I would think recurrent vibrations would eventually jar you, and just attach it somewhere that you wont lay on top of it.

 

[Sushirolls]

Get a mason/canning jar, wide mouth.
Have the vibrate feature on for the pager.
Put it in the jar. *add a few marbles for extra effect
Put it out of arms reach.
The easy part is setting up a pager system that will wake you. The hard part is trying to sleep in the same bed with your spouse and not pissing them off when it goes off.

I don't suggest attaching it to you after residency. It took me several years to extinguish the phantom vibrations on the locations I would carry it, or even reaching to check if pager was there.

 

[Mad Jack]

Get a mason/canning jar, wide mouth.
Have the vibrate feature on for the pager.
Put it in the jar. *add a few marbles for extra effect
Put it out of arms reach.
The easy part is setting up a pager system that will wake you. The hard part is trying to sleep in the same bed with your spouse and not pissing them off when it goes off.

I don't suggest attaching it to you after residency. It took me several years to extinguish the phantom vibrations on the locations I would carry it, or even reaching to check if pager was there.

I had phantom pages for years myself after leaving a system that used pagers in my prior life, that alertness takes a long time to leave you

 

[Mad Jack]

I do what the two above advise. Loud pager plus obnoxious phone. If anything I jump awake for any page. There is no way to miss it.

Same method I use. Making sure staff knows your phone is an acceptable option for inpatient settings is also a plus for the anxiety relief