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. 2010 Jan-Feb;17(1):91–98. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M3307

Table 1.

Advantages and disadvantages of common clinical communication technologies

Device Advantages Disadvantages
Pager15 16 17

  • Send alerts

  • Text messaging

  • Wireless

  • Asynchronous

  • No prioritization

  • Minimal context

  • Limited feedback

  • Asynchronous
Cell phone6 18

  • Text messaging

  • Wireless

  • Synchronous or asynchronous

  • Interference with medical devices

  • Bulky

  • Synchronous communication interrupts
Telephone19

  • Familiarity

  • Synchronous and asynchronous

  • Stationary

  • Synchronous communication interrupts

  • Travel distance to phone
Overhead page20

  • Situational awareness

  • Undifferentiated

  • Environmental noise
Planning board1 21

  • Temporal overview

  • One-to-many and many-to-many communication

  • Easy to manipulate

  • Requires traveling to the board

  • May lack updated information