Medic Bleep-Medical Messenger

The app is a good tool for non urgent issues such as non urgent handovers, non urgent prescriptions, small jobs etc. Unfortunately when it comes to real sick, unwell patients, I find it quite frustrating as the nurses tend to message the doctors and believe that the responsibility is passed over straight away. Also, many people don’t use it correctly and only send message like: please call this number, thanks, without introducing themselves, giving a minimal SBAR etc, making it impossible, especially when on call, to prioritise. Another issue is that many people started having problems with their personal phones once using medic bleep such as batteries issues, overheating etc and no one is taking responsibility for this unfortunately. So overall a great secured way of communicating between us for non urgent things, but not properly working for on calls and really unwell patients. And the overheating problem is a serious one as someone should be held responsible if I am made to use my personal device at work and then something happens to it due to using medicbleep.

Truly a no brainer for any healthcare worker! As a junior doctor I have for long struggled with the inefficient and often unreliable bleep system that tells me nothing of who is calling, why they’re calling as well as from where. Medic Bleep instead allows me to securely send a message across in an SBAR format and even escalate patients to my seniors if the patient is unwell. It is now easier to prioritise jobs, handover to the next team and with full NHS information governance, patient confidentiality is protected. Easy to use and truly making my job easier, I hope that more hospitals adopt this and we stop communicating like we are in the 1960s!

Plenty of good points if you compare it to a bleep. You can prioritise your response or say, “ring me in my office in 5 minutes” or “On my way”. One can pass on baton bleeps. It does need good wifi. The help team respond to requests. You can leave a message when scrubbed so one be rung on a “steam” landline. Messages are not always read immediately, so if urgent one can “ring” using the app. Always room to improve but so much better than a pager.

I have been using Medic Bleep through the Covid response and it has been invaluable. To be able to contact people when they may be off site at the point I need them has been so helpful. And has supported us with our social distancing measures giving us another secure platform through which to communicate.

The traditional bleep system is crazy outdated and wasteful from constantly replacing hardware and batteries. Medicbleep just works, and has revolutionised how I contact colleagues at work. Simple to use, secure and means I can keep work off WhatsApp, so really good for work-life balance. Better for patients, better for staff, better for the planet.