BackgroundFrequent pages can disrupt workflow, interrupt patient care, and may contribute to physician burnout. We hypothesized that paging volumes followed consistent temporal trends, regardless of the medical or surgical service, reflecting systems based issues present in our hospitals.MethodsA retrospective review of the hospital paging systems for 4 services at The Ottawa Hospital was performed. Resident paging data from April 1 to July 31, 2018 were collected for services with a single primary pager number including orthopaedic surgery, general surgery, neurology, and neurosurgery. Trends in paging volume during the 4-month period were examined. Variables examined included the location of origin of the page (emergency room vs. inpatient unit), and day/time of the page.ResultsDuring the study period, 25,797 pages were received by the 4 services, averaging 211 (± Standard Deviation (SD) 12) pages per day. 19,371 (75%) pages were from in-patient hospital units, while 6426 (24%) were pages from the emergency room. The median interval between pages across all specialties was 22:30 min. Emergency room pages peaked between 16:30 and 20:00, while in-patient units peaked between 17:30 and 18:30.ConclusionsEach service experienced frequent paging with similar patterns of marked increases at specific times. This study identifies areas for future study about what the factors are that contribute to the paging patterns observed.

Introduction: Given restrictions on electives outside of medical students’ home institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the objective of this study was to create a novel recruitment strategy for the University of Ottawa’s (uOttawa) urology residency program. Methods: A steering committee was formed and created a three-part recruitment strategy that included a new uOttawa urology website, a residency program social media campaign (Twitter and Instagram), and a virtual open house (VOH). Descriptive data from the website and Instagram and Twitter accounts were collected. Attendees of the VOH completed a mixed-methods survey, which collected quantitative and qualitive responses assessing aspects of the VOH and virtual resource use. Results: From August 1 to December 31, 2020, the uOttawa urology website had 1707 visits. The Twitter account had a total of 29 000 views with 1000–5000 views per tweet. Thirty-one candidates attended the VOH. Survey responders reported that the most frequently used resources to gain knowledge of the program were the website (81%) and Twitter account (71%). The most helpful and informative resources were the uOttawa urology website, the VOH, and direct conversations with residents arranged through the website. Despite not having completed an elective, 26 students (84%) felt they had an understanding of what it might feel like to train in the program. Suggestions by students for future initiatives included one-on-one virtual meetings, another VOH, and more information on selection processes. Conclusions: A multifaceted, virtual recruitment strategy can be implemented to improve candidate understanding and engagement with residency programs while visiting elective opportunities remain limited.

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