Cellphones interfere with hospital equipment: study
08.09.2007 00:00
Health
- Source: cbc.ca
A new Dutch study of cellphones finds that the electromagnetic fields they generate can disrupt the functioning of critical care equipment. Dutch scientists assessed the impact of cellphone signals in the proximity of 61 hospital medical devices, such as ventilators and electrocardiogram machines, in 17 categories.  The Dutch study suggests mobile phones be kept one metre away from the critical care bedside.
(CBC) Interference was assessed with two General Packet Radio Service signals, a data transmission technique that transmits and receives data in packets. Forty-eight incidents occurred in 26 devices, 16 of which were classified as hazardous, 20 as significant and 12 as light. Hazardous incidents were defined as having a direct physical influence on the patient by an unintended change in equipment function (such as the stopping of a ventilator); significant meant the waves caused substantial distraction (such as incorrect monitoring of blood pressure) and light meant the interference caused a small glitch in medical monitoring, such as a disturbed display. "Critical care equipment is vulnerable to [interference] by new-generation wireless telecommunication technologies with median distances of about 3 cm," reads the report. The study contradicts one done earlier this year by Mayo Clinic researchers who found that 300 tests over a five-month period turned up no noticeable interference with important hospital equipment due to regular cellphone use. The Dutch study suggests mobile phones be kept one metre away from the critical care bedside. It also calls for more study into critical care equipment and its compatibility with new wireless telecommunication technologies that are increasingly being used by hospital patients.
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