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Friday, March 09, 2007

Cell Phones Can Cause Death in Hospitals

 
Friday's Urban Legend: FALSE

Hospital equipment unaffected by cell phone use, study finds


ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Calls made on cellular phones have no negative impact on hospital medical devices, dispelling the long-held notion that they are unsafe to use in health care facilities, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.

In a study published in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers say normal use of cell phones results in no noticeable interference with patient care equipment. Three hundred tests were performed over a five-month period in 2006, without a single problem incurred.

Involved in the study were two cellular phones which used different technologies from different carriers and 192 medical devices. Tests were performed at Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester.

The study’s authors say the findings should prompt hospitals to alter or abandon their bans on cell phone use. Mayo Clinic leaders are reviewing the facility’s cell phone ban because of the study’s findings, says David Hayes, M.D., of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and a study author.

Cell phone bans inconvenience patients and their families who must exit hospitals to place calls, the study’s authors say.

The latest study revisits two earlier studies that were done ‘in vitro’ (i.e., the equipment wasn’t connected to the patients), which also found minimal interaction from cell phones used in health care facilities. Dr. Hayes says the latest study bolsters the notion that cells phones are safe to use in hospitals.

1 comment :

Unknown said...

One thing to keep in mind about this research is that not all parts of the world use the same freqencies for mobile phones, which is one reason why a phone bought in Europe may not work in the US unless it is designed to be used in both Europe and the US.

This research would seem to suggests that the frequencies used in the US do not cause problems for medical equipment but I am not sure you can extrapolate that data for phones operating on different frequencies.

As an aside, there is still a good arguement against allowing mobile phone use in hospitals on the grounds they are very irritating.