January 18, 2005
Hospitals Ease Cellphone Bans
As the Federal Communications Commission revisits rules against cellphone use on airplanes, hospitals are rethinking their own policies on the devices, reports Sarah Rubenstein for the WSJ.
"Many are loosening restrictions that have become increasingly difficult to enforce anyway.
Policies against cellphone use in hospitals largely began in the 1990s, as the devices became more popular and hospitals grew concerned about interfering with vital medical equipment such as cardiac monitors. The bans mirrored restrictions by the FCC and Federal Aviation Administration on the use of cellphones on airplanes, which emerged out of fear that the gadgets could interfere with flight communications.
But the issue of whether and how wireless devices affect other electronic equipment is unresolved. Research on the subject is limited, though there is growing evidence that today's lower-power, digital cellphones aren't as likely as older models to be a problem for medical equipment, especially if they aren't in close proximity. In December, the FCC initiated a study into possibly easing its ban on cellphones on planes.
Cellphone-related incidents in the past helped make the case for prohibitions. In one incident in the mid-'90s, an Intermountain Health Care patient was being transported from one hospital to another and an ambulance crew member used a cellphone, says Michael Rawson, corporate director of safety, security and environmental health for the hospital chain. All of the infusion pumps hooked up to the patient turned off, he says. "They had to stop the ambulance and restart the stuff." The patient was fine in the end, hospital officials recall.
Now most cellphones are digital and radiate less power, and medical technology typically operates at different frequencies, says Joy Laskar, director of the Georgia Electronic Design Center at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Interference is "very unlikely," he says. Many hospitals that have relaxed their bans say they tested cellphones on site before changing the rules.
The Mayo Clinic in a 2001 study tested several cellphones near cardiopulmonary equipment, and some interference occurred in seven of the 17 medical devices tested. Researchers found that 7% of the tests revealed incidents that were "clinically important," and the most problematic cases occurred when the phones were six to 33 inches from the equipment."
Related articles:
-- Handsets Cause Glitch in Medical Equipment, argue Korean Researchers - As hospitals around the world are relaxing cell phone rules, a group of Korean researchers argued that handsets are likely to cause wrong diagnosis in hospitals.
-- Singapore Hospital may allow use of mobile phones - Tan Tock Seng Hospital may allow mobile phones to be used around the hospital - even in operating theatres
-- Hospital mobile phone laws relax - UK Hospital could lift bans on mobile phone use following updated guidance by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency
-- Hospital to permit cell phone usage - Fukuoka's Kyushu University Hospital says that it has started permitting patients to use their cellphones while in hospital.
-- Doctors want ban lifted on mobiles in hospitals - Doctors have called for mobile phone bans in hospitals to be lifted.
-- DMobile phones can spread dangerous infectious agents - Cell phones used by healthcare personnel in hospitals can spread dangerous infectious agents, according to researchers in Israel.
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