cell phone use in hospitals

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 00:53:15 -0500, "Bill Roland"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Which is funny, I've seen many cell phones kick into Analog when inside the
>hospital. I've seen at least 5 StarTACs do it...

And they all usually go dead when you get to the radiology department.

---

› See More: cell phone use in hospitals

The Ghost of General Lee wrote:
>
> On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 00:53:15 -0500, "Bill Roland"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >Which is funny, I've seen many cell phones kick into Analog when inside the
> >hospital. I've seen at least 5 StarTACs do it...
>
> And they all usually go dead when you get to the radiology department.

I sense a morgue joke coming up...

Larry

On 18 Nov 2003 20:50:23 -0800, [email protected] (maryann) wrote:

>There was a thread here a few months ago about cell phone use in
>hospitals, with plenty of self righteous talk about the "dangers"
>to the patients.
>
>I spent all of today in John Muir Hospital waiting for the gf to come out
>of surgery, and noticed that each and every hospital employee appears to
>be equipped with a cell phone. Needless to say, they
>seem to think they won't kill the patients that way.

Don't know about the US, but in Japan, docs in hospitals use only
phones that operate on PHS (Personal Handyphone System). Ordinary
NTT/Docomo/I-mode phones, which I think operate on some variety of WCDMA,
aren't permitted.

What is the BFD????????? The hospitals ask that you don't use a cell phone
in the hospital. You can do without it while you are there.... We lived
without it for this long. Just turn it off and concentrate on what is
important. The health of your loved ones....

--
Regards,
Hank Arnold

"maryann" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> There was a thread here a few months ago about cell phone use in
> hospitals, with plenty of self righteous talk about the "dangers"
> to the patients.
>
> I spent all of today in John Muir Hospital waiting for the gf to come out
> of surgery, and noticed that each and every hospital employee appears to
> be equipped with a cell phone. Needless to say, they
> seem to think they won't kill the patients that way.

[email protected] (maryann) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> There was a thread here a few months ago about cell phone use in
> hospitals, with plenty of self righteous talk about the "dangers"
> to the patients.
>
> I spent all of today in John Muir Hospital waiting for the gf to come out
> of surgery, and noticed that each and every hospital employee appears to
> be equipped with a cell phone. Needless to say, they
> seem to think they won't kill the patients that way.

A nurse in the cardiac unit once explained to me that cell phones
caused interference with the in house telemetry monitoring systems.
The nurses carried special pagers attached to their assigned heart
patients. Probably not the best place to test the theory.

I suspect some cell phones (Nextel or 3 watt analog?) at one time may
have interefered with some hospital monitoring equipment. It was
probably easier just tell everyone to turn off their phones.

Nextel phones still play havoc with some poorly shielded electronic
devices.

-
David

There are three different frequencies used by Cellular Carriers 800, 900 and
1900 MHz. Could be one of those three has been determined to be safe, but its
easier to ban the cells for the public, as how many people know what frequency
their cell phone operate son.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question230.htm

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (maryann) wrote:

> There was a thread here a few months ago about cell phone use in
> hospitals, with plenty of self righteous talk about the "dangers"
> to the patients.
>
> I spent all of today in John Muir Hospital waiting for the gf to come out
> of surgery, and noticed that each and every hospital employee appears to
> be equipped with a cell phone. Needless to say, they
> seem to think they won't kill the patients that way.

I'm in the health care and have worked in various hospitals around the
country over the last 15 years or so. In my experience, it's highly
variable what hospitals allow. Of the two hospitals where I have
privileges, one lets you use cell phones essentially anywhere in the
building, even in the ICUs and Recovery Room, and the other is very
restrictive, only allowing cell phones in certain designated waiting
areas. As part of my duties, I've had to visit hospitals throughout the
state, and I've found the same variability in terms of allowing cell
phone use, although few are as liberal as the hospital that allows them
nearly everywhere. This variability has made me wonder whether today's
cell phones actually can interfere with the functioning of patient
equipment. If the case were so clear-cut, I would think that all
hospitals would ban cell phone use anywhere near patient care areas.
--
Orac |"A statement of fact cannot be insolent."
|
|"If you cannot listen to the answers, why do you
| inconvenience me with questions?"

"Bill Roland" <[email protected]> wrote in message
newsADub.7066$zx.1846@lakeread03...
> Which is funny, I've seen many cell phones kick into Analog when inside
the
> hospital. I've seen at least 5 StarTACs do it...
>

But your startac does not output 3 watts of power like the old bag phones.

Tom Veldhouse

The thing that is so funny is getting screeched at by one hospital
worker for merely having one (that was indeed turned off) as two others in
the same area are using theirs. When I asked, I was told they were "special"
ones that are safe. Hmm, looked just like the ones I had.

Some of them even ban pagers. Of course, all of the docs and staff have
pagers.

Mind you, I do suspect that some equipment could be affected and that
patients come first, but a lot of this is just knee jerk.

--
Thomas M. Goethe

"Orac" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] (maryann) wrote:
>
> > There was a thread here a few months ago about cell phone use in
> > hospitals, with plenty of self righteous talk about the "dangers"
> > to the patients.
> >
> > I spent all of today in John Muir Hospital waiting for the gf to come
out
> > of surgery, and noticed that each and every hospital employee appears to
> > be equipped with a cell phone. Needless to say, they
> > seem to think they won't kill the patients that way.
>
> I'm in the health care and have worked in various hospitals around the
> country over the last 15 years or so. In my experience, it's highly
> variable what hospitals allow. Of the two hospitals where I have
> privileges, one lets you use cell phones essentially anywhere in the
> building, even in the ICUs and Recovery Room, and the other is very
> restrictive, only allowing cell phones in certain designated waiting
> areas. As part of my duties, I've had to visit hospitals throughout the
> state, and I've found the same variability in terms of allowing cell
> phone use, although few are as liberal as the hospital that allows them
> nearly everywhere. This variability has made me wonder whether today's
> cell phones actually can interfere with the functioning of patient
> equipment. If the case were so clear-cut, I would think that all
> hospitals would ban cell phone use anywhere near patient care areas.
> --
> Orac |"A statement of fact cannot be insolent."
> |
> |"If you cannot listen to the answers, why do you
> | inconvenience me with questions?"

> Nextel phones still play havoc with some poorly shielded electronic
> devices.

I have often seen Nextel and GSM phones cause interference with the
equipment in a recording studio. Then again, last time I was at a
hospital the staff used cheap FRS radios!

I have 3 of those too, maybe I should haul one in and see what happens. No,
I won't, but I bet it would wreak havoc on a lot of stuff around there. I
do what the hospital politely asks, I turn my cell phone off at the door,
but most people I know do not. The behavior of most Dual Mode phones I have
seen is that the moment you walk in the hospital it switches to Analog with
a very low signal, then you hit spots inside that have no service, others
where you may have full strength, but its always Analog. The moment you
step out the doors it returns to digital. I cannot explain it but it
happens every time.

Also, a few years back I had an aunt that had surgery at North Florida
Regional in Gainesville. At the time they had, and still did have a few
months ago when I was by there, a cell tower on top of the hospital. Not
sure how good that is for all that sensitive equipment they are operating
below...but that's their problem.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Bill Roland" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> newsADub.7066$zx.1846@lakeread03...
> > Which is funny, I've seen many cell phones kick into Analog when inside
> the
> > hospital. I've seen at least 5 StarTACs do it...
> >
>
> But your startac does not output 3 watts of power like the old bag phones.
>
> Tom Veldhouse
>
>

In alt.cellular Thomas M. Goethe <[email protected]> wrote:
> The thing that is so funny is getting screeched at by one hospital
> worker for merely having one (that was indeed turned off) as two others in
> the same area are using theirs. When I asked, I was told they were "special"
> ones that are safe. Hmm, looked just like the ones I had.
>
> Some of them even ban pagers. Of course, all of the docs and staff have
> pagers.

I know that back home, the hospital near our house banned two-way pagers.
They care about the transmission of radio waves, apparently, but not the
reception of the RF on the paging frequencies. Cell phones are prohibited
at this particular hospital.

--
JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services
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Steve Sobol, Proprietor
888.480.4NET (4638) * 248.724.4NET * [email protected]

"Hank Arnold" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What is the BFD????????? The hospitals ask that you don't use a cell phone
> in the hospital. You can do without it while you are there.... We lived
> without it for this long. Just turn it off and concentrate on what is
> important. The health of your loved ones....

Concentrating on the health of your loved one is exactly why you need a CDMA
phone in a hospital! In the hospital, your loved one is being bombarded
with "treatment" (drugs, etc.) by various bizarre doctors who come by once a
day (maybe), order some drugs, and leave. When you find your loved one all
goofed up (catatonic or comatose), and the nurses don't seem to care, you
have to track down these bizarre doctors as quickly as possible and get them
to change their orders. Obviously, you cannot get such a doctor on the
phone immediately--you have to leave a callback number. That's what you
need a CDMA phone for.

Yes, this scenario did occur when my mother was in the hospital.
Unfortunately, the doctors were so incompetent that they put my mother not
only into a coma but into permanent kidney failure and brain damage. She
never fully recovered, and died within six months.

"Orac" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> nearly everywhere. This variability has made me wonder whether today's
> cell phones actually can interfere with the functioning of patient
> equipment. If the case were so clear-cut, I would think that all
> hospitals would ban cell phone use anywhere near patient care areas.

The only evidence at all I've seen of interference with sensitive equipment
(e.g., avionics) was:

1) Within twelve inches of the equipment

2) single-frequency technology (analog/TDMA/GSM) instead of spread-spectrum
(CDMA)

"Lawrence G. Mayka" wrote:
>
> "Orac" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news[email protected]...
> > nearly everywhere. This variability has made me wonder whether today's
> > cell phones actually can interfere with the functioning of patient
> > equipment. If the case were so clear-cut, I would think that all
> > hospitals would ban cell phone use anywhere near patient care areas.
>
> The only evidence at all I've seen of interference with sensitive equipment
> (e.g., avionics) was:
>
> 1) Within twelve inches of the equipment
>
> 2) single-frequency technology (analog/TDMA/GSM) instead of spread-spectrum
> (CDMA)

One concern is the age of the hospital's monitoring/telemetry system.

I'd image an older system is *much* more prone to interference.

Larry