Interrupted care. The effects of paging on pediatric resident activities.

To determine the content and urgency of pages and their effect on the activities of pediatric residents. Prospective survey. University-affiliated teaching hospital. Seventeen pediatric residents on regular pediatric services. None. On daily logs, interns recorded the activity interrupted by a page and rated the urgency and importance of the page. Almost half of all pages interrupted patient care activities, and 24% interrupted scheduled work rounds or teaching conferences. Interns reported that 34% of pages resulted in a change in patient treatment, but they rated 25% of all pages as unimportant. "Beepers" frequently interrupt pediatric residents involved in patient care activities and scheduled educational conferences. Studies of interventions aimed at decreasing unnecessary interruptions by pages are needed.