Turn Off Cell Phones in Hospital Rooms

[Heracles 417]

Anyone with a GSM cell phone (At&T, T-mobile) should take note of this... CDMA (verizon or sprint alltel) is not really an issue because of the way they transmit.

Turn Off Cell Phones in Hospital Rooms

Cell Phones May Interfere With Some Critical Care Medical Devices, Experts Say

By Miranda Hitti

WebMD Medical News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Sept. 5, 2007 -- Dutch doctors today reminded hospital visitors to turn off their cell phones -- for the sake of health, not etiquette.

The reason: Cell phones may interfere with critical care equipment such as ventilators and external pacemakers, report the University of Amsterdam's Erik Jan van Lieshout, MD, and colleagues.

With that in mind, van Lieshout's team supports the practice of keeping cell phones at least a meter (about 3.28 feet) away from medical equipment or hospital beds.

That guideline "seems safe" but doesn't totally prevent the possibility of cell phones causing electromagnetic interference in hospital equipment, the researchers write.

They tested cell phones near 61 medical devices that weren't hooked up to patients.

In the tests, the cell phones caused 48 "incidents" in 26 devices. A third of those incidents were hazardous, such as totally switching off and restarting a mechanical ventilator, completely stopping syringe pumps without setting off an alarm, and causing incorrect pulses in an external pacemaker.

Another 42% of the incidents were classified as "significant" but not hazardous. Examples of significant incidents were incorrectly setting off an alarm or inaccurately monitoring blood pressure.

The remaining incidents were considered "light," such as disruptions of monitor displays that didn't require immediate attention.

The researchers note that their testing situations were "worst-case" scenarios. But they argue that their findings support restricting cell phone use in hospitals to areas where electromagnetic interference wouldn't be a problem.

The study appears online in the journal Critical Care.

SOURCES: van Lieshout, E. Critical Care, Sept. 5, 2007; online edition. News release, BioMed Central.

© 2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved.

[Mags 112]

Not been allowed to use mobile phones in UK hospitals for years, for the same reason.

[~*Maria*~ 1]

Not been allowed to use mobile phones in UK hospitals for years, for the same reason.

Even some of the Health Centre's back home ask you to turn your mobile phones off as well!

[Jasman0717 9]

The turn off the cell phone sign is posted all over my Dr.'s office and has been for quite a while

[athena_ny 1]

They've had those signs at all my dr's offices since I was 10 or so ... so uh, this is news that is 10 years old.

[bostonparis 0]

I just spent a week in the hospital with my cell phone by my side (or on my ear), and no one said a word to me about it. Maybe it was the floor I was on, and it wouldn't have interfered with anything.

[Cassie 8]

Same with Canadian hospitals. I was stunned when we went to visit one of Jerry's cousins in the ICU and people were using cell phones out in the waiting areas.

[almaty 19]

i worked in 2 hospitals and it was a requirement ot turn them off...

[Jasman0717 9]

i worked in 2 hospitals and it was a requirement ot turn them off...

I visited a friend in ICU a couple of months ago and the guard that gave us our passes said we had to turn off the phones before we went up.

[Vipul and Jamie 0]

In critical care units (ICU, CCU, BICU, and ect.) it is important that cell phones are not used. It can cause some interference with certain equipment used (i.e some forms of telemetry). However, most places in the hospital you can use a cell phone. Most general nursing floors (unless otherwise specified) have no restriction on cell phone use.

-Jamie