More than a decade after the rest of society ditched their pagers, some Melbourne health workers are following suite.
On-call staff working for the publicly-owned Monash Health network, in the city's southeast, have started using an instant messaging app instead.
The owner of the technology, health informatics company Alcidion Group, has dubbed it a breakthrough for an industry still using "pagers, pen and paper, fax machines and whiteboards".
"Avoidable errors are a growing problem in healthcare, and after-hours care can be even riskier, as staff levels are reduced but patient needs remain the same," Alcidion said in a statement on Tuesday.
The app has been rolled out to staff at the Monash Children's Hospital and the Monash Medical Centre.
Monash Health says it plans to introduce the technology in all of its hospitals in the future.
