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6th September - Evidence that mobile phones can interfere
with vital intensive care equipment has been strengthened.
More than half the hospital ventilators tested by Dutch researchers
stopped working properly when a mobile was switched on nearby.
The government has said current bans on the use of mobile
phones in hospitals can be relaxed.
But the Critical Care journal study suggests it would be
folly to do this in high dependency areas.
A total of 61 different medical devices were tested, and the
majority could be affected by the presence of a mobile.
In particular, nine intensive care ventilators were checked,
and seven of these could be "influenced" by mobiles.
Of these, six were described by the researchers as "hazardous",
involving a direct physical influence on the patient.
Critical care monitors were also vulnerable, with seven out
of 13 disrupted by mobile signals, while three out of seven
syringe pumps were affected.
Other devices which suffered problems were dialysis machines,
external pacemaker machines, feeding pumps and even air humidifiers.
Close range threat
"3G" mobiles were less likely to cause problems
compared with second generation mobiles, and while, on average,
the mobile had to be only a few centimetres away to interfere
with the device, one "hazardous" incident happened
at a distance of three metres.
The researchers wrote: "The policy to keep mobile phones
one metre from the critical care bedside seems warranted."
In the UK, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory
Agency (MHRA) advises that mobiles should be kept out of areas
with sensitive medical equipment.
A spokesman said: "We recommend that mobile phones are
not used in critical care areas such as intensive therapy
units (ITU), special care baby units (SCBU) or where patients
are attached to complex devices, as any effect on such equipment
could be extremely detrimental to patient care."
Ban reversed
Concerns over this issue led many trusts in the UK to issue
blanket bans on mobile use in hospitals, but patient groups
and many doctors have been campaigning for this to be reversed.
Earlier this year, junior Health Minister Andy Burnham said
that hospitals could relax these rules.
Many trusts have now done this, although some have kept the
ban over fears that patient privacy could be breached by the
latest camera phones.
The British Medical Association has maintained that there
is no significant evidence linking mobiles to problems with
medical devices, and said that patients would benefit from
doctors being able to communicate better with colleagues while
on the wards.
A spokesman said: "If new evidence comes out, we will
look at it, but doctors say that it can be very useful to
them to make and receive work-related calls this way."
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