January 23, 2006
Mobile phones have no adverse effect on hospital equipment
A study at a Singapore hospital has found that mobile phones have no adverse effect on medical equipment, prompting a massive switch from the pagers used for 20 years, reports M&C News.
"The 500 doctors at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) have traded in their pagers for phones. Instead of receiving messages that do not tell them who called or what the call was about, they now receive text messages containing specific information. The switch is the first of the kind in the Southeast Asian region, Dr. Ho Choon Hou told The Straits Times.
... Rules for visitors and patients using mobile phones in wards at TTSH have been relaxed. The phones can be used as long as they are more than 2 metres away from medical equipment."
Related studies:
-- Cell Phones Interfere Less With Medical Devices - A study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that cell phones' electromagnetic interference with medical devices may have lessened as technology improves
-- 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.
-- 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.
-- 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.
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