Bleeping noises!
Please bear with me on this one as its a little off into left field but I think its the right forum to ask for comments. (I had the privilege of attending a CRM training course and a light went on above my head!)
I am working on an intelligent "bleeping" system for medical and nursing staff which involves sending a GPRS (mobile phone) message to clinical staff both within a hospital and outside it. At present there are pager systems but I feel that this is faulted as all it does is make a noise and clinical staff have to pick up a phone and ask for information. I feel a system that gives both an audible signal and some information is far superior. The GPRS message would give some detail as to how urgent the concern is, but also enabling the clinician to decide how to prioritise thier tasks, but also to divert incoming calls if they are committed to a specificc task. I am searching for examples to illustrate my point in presentations. I imagine that a solitary bleeping noise withut any further information is a menace on a flight deck. Without an audible signal having any meaning, I would suppose that cognitive dissonance is strong and it can be ignored, or misinterpreted, or both, especially at times of stress or fatigue.
I would be most grateful if you guys can recall any annoying bleeps or alarms on the flight deck or within the cabin (or anywhere else I havent thought of) which actually either make the situation worse or disinform. Also I am interested in the whole concept of alerts and prioritisation of tasks and how the human factor can override the most urgent of warnings. Any information from you would be most welcome.
Yes I am an NHS employee and you thought working for BA was bad...............