By Tim Ferguson, 6 September 2007 16:27
NEWS
Using mobile phones in hospitals can interfere with intensive care medical equipment and machines, a new study claims.
Researchers in the Netherlands assessed the effect on critical medical care equipment of GPRS and UMTS phone signals from 2G and 3G phones.
The electromagnetic interference (EMI) created by mobile phones transmitting the minimum level of data was measured on 61 medical care devices.
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♦ Mobile location-based services
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♦ 3G
The research triggered 48 incidents on 26 devices, 16 of which were classified as hazardous to patients.
The GPRS-1 signal produced the largest proportion of incidents (41 per cent) with UMTS accounting for 13 per cent.
The median distance at which mobile phones had an effect on medical equipment was 3cm but one hazardous incident occurred when a GPRS-1 signal was activated 300cm away from a ventilator.
The research concluded that critical care equipment is vulnerable to interference from GPRS and UMTS mobile phones, meaning a policy of keeping mobile phones more than a metre away from bedside critical care equipment is warranted.
In May this year, the Department of Health (DoH) issued guidelines on the use of mobile phones in hospitals which recommended mobiles should not be used in clinical areas but said NHS trusts should undertake their own risk assessments about mobile use.
Following the latest research, the DoH said in a statement: "We recognise that patients and staff should be able to use mobile phones subject to medical and privacy considerations and we see no reason for trusts to have an outright ban on mobile phones, especially in communal areas."
The agency overseeing the use and safety of medicines and medical devices, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, also said policy around mobile phone use and restrictions is down to individual trusts.
But it recommends mobiles should not be used in areas where patients are attached to complex devices that could be affected by mobile signals, such as intensive therapy units or special care baby units, and it said there have been very few reports of mobile phones causing devices to malfunction.
Comments
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1. Richard
What does the "N" in "NHS" now mean?
>>"the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, also said policy around mobile phone use and restrictions is down to individual trusts."<<
Does this mean that mobile phone policies will still be decided by "trust" "managers" with more regard to their commercial contracts with the companies who provide expensive bed-side telephones?
The days of the phone trolleys provided by "Friends of the Hospital" and of the caring, human, hygienic nurses who wheeled them to the bed-side seem long gone.
2. Richard
Boot used to be on the other foot:
While working for a (long lost) UK company which manufactured excellent HF Radio Transceivers; UK government would only allow live testing on certain specific "short-wave" frequencies;
The main frequency "just happened" to be the same frequency as the local hospital's powerful diathermy (medical heat treatment) equipment.
So much RF radiation leaked from the hospital that our testing was useless.
Needless to say, our protests to government and requests to the DTI for alternative frequencies were ignored.
So much for government support to a world beating UK manufacturer.
3. anonymous
So fix the hospital equipment! Screening should not be beyond the wit of the manufacturers, given that the evidence seems to suggest that close proximity is required in by far the majority of cases.
What we do NOT need to see is this being used as a sham excuse to force people into using the very expensive facilities currently provided by using "guilt based" motivation - "you might harm somebody" on the majority of the population unlikely to ever know about this study. We need a little openness and honesty from bureaucrats of all kinds if they are to have the support of the public.
The argument that calls out are cheap (or reasonable) masks the rip off costs of calling in to a patient.
4. anonymous
Hospitals in Liverpool allow mobile phones to be used sensibly. North Wales hospitals have an archaic outright ban because of their agreement with Patientline, so the patient is forced to use this high cost monopoly service. For this reason I will continue to use my mobile when in Welsh hospitals, regardless of local trust rulings - just as their consultants do. Any policy needs to be applied uniformly and FAIRLY.