Subject: RE: [NEXTEL-1] Cell Phones in Hospitals

From: "Mabardy, Mark" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2003 14:36:30 -0500

My parents are elderly so none the less I make trips to the hospital when they are in there and have been approached by staff to turn off my wireless equipment, (which I now do) but the hospital has at least 2 cell sites on the roof.  It doesn't make sense that if the hospital has a cell site on the roof that my phone is going to cause more splatter on the patients equipment then the equipment on the roof pushing out a lot more power than my phone.  However the hospital staff all have the in building cell phone units (something link) and  what these units don't cause interference ?
Seems like it is an environment which more testing should be done to gain more facts.  Can any one tell me why the staff's in building equipment won't cause interference but mine will ?  BTW when I brought in my VHF portable putting out 4.89 watts no one stopped me and said turn it off.
Is the issue only hand held cell phones ?  But radios putting out higher power are exempt ?
Perhaps the notice on the hospital door needs to be rewritten to mean all portable communication devices, including WiFi and radio equipment.
Perhaps the true reason (for turning off wireless equipment) is they don't want interference but on the other hand they don't want distractions to interfere with their operations.
I just find it amazing that my cell phone (to the hospital staff) is more of a threat to the patients electronic equipment then my 2 way radio.  What about my issued trunking radio ?   
Any thoughts ?

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Griffin [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 9:23 AM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: RE: [NEXTEL-1] Cell Phones in Hospitals

I work in an Operating Room at my local hospital.  Our equipment manager carries around with him a hospital issued cell phone, so vendors can call him, as he is always never in his office.  It had a cover on it so i couldn't get a look at who mafe it or a model #, but i kinda looked like some of the older iden units.

> Fred Manhole wrote:

> I am wondering about the issue of cell phone safety  
>  inside of Hospitals and other medical facilities.
> Are their any wireless phone which do not interfere  
> with medical equipment (which I assume is the concern)
>
> Any help in clarifying this issue would be appreciated.  
> Thank You
>
> Fred Mahnke

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---

From: Paul Timmins <[email-masked]>
Date: 10 Feb 2003 12:52:15 -0500

Another thought I've been having is to force people to make phone calls
on the room phones. When I was in the hospital for a few days a few
months ago, I begged them to let me use my cell phone. I pointed out the
lack of medical equipment other than my IV, and even asked if there were
somewhere I could be wheeled where I could use it on a limited basis,
because if I couldn't take advantage of my virtually unlimited cellular
and direct connect minutes, I at least wanted to score a few numbers out
of the phonebook so I could ask my girlfriend to call them and give them
my hospital phone number.
No dice. I couldn't even turn it on for even a minute to get a number
out of the phone book. (I later did it anyway when the nurses weren't
around, and neither me or the other guy in the room died or anything),
so I really don't know what the issue is.
Maybe the idea of losing the per day charge for phone, and all those fun
operator assisted rates for long distance calls is getting them riled
up?
-Paul

-- 
Paul Timmins
[email-masked] / http://www.timmins.net/
H: 313-586-9514 / C: 248-379-7826 / DC: 130*116*24495
AIM: noweb4u / Callsign: KC8QAY

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---

From: "Sparky <[email-masked]>" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 23:35:43 -0000

I'm a lifeguard and in a few instances have had to go to the ER with 
a victim. Every time I did I was kindly reminded to either turn off 
my radio (VHF) or check it with the security desk on the way in if I 
was expecting calls and they'd get me if I was called on the radio. 

Maybe the in-hospital ones are different from others. Just like fire 
department radios are intrinsically safe so they won't cause an 
explosion of some sort in the presence of harmful conditions. Maybe 
their phones have been tested and are known not to cause problematic 
conditions whereas our phones haven't. 

Just a thought.

Sparky

--- In [email-masked], Paul Timmins <paul@t...> wrote:
> > My parents are elderly so none the less I make trips to the 
hospital when they are in there and have been approached by staff to 
turn off my wireless equipment, (which I now do) but the hospital has 
at least 2 cell sites on the roof.  It doesn't make sense that if the 
hospital has a cell site on the roof that my phone is going to cause 
more splatter on the patients equipment then the equipment on the 
roof pushing out a lot more power than my phone.  However the 
hospital staff all have the in building cell phone units (something 
link) and  what these units don't cause interference ?
> > Seems like it is an environment which more testing should be done 
to gain more facts.  Can any one tell me why the staff's in building 
equipment won't cause interference but mine will ?  BTW when I 
brought in my VHF portable putting out 4.89 watts no one stopped me 
and said turn it off.
> > Perhaps the notice on the hospital door needs to be rewritten to 
mean all portable communication devices, including WiFi and radio 
equipment.
> > Perhaps the true reason (for turning off wireless equipment) is 
they don't want interference but on the other hand they don't want 
distractions to interfere with their operations.
> > I just find it amazing that my cell phone (to the hospital staff) 
is more of a threat to the patients electronic equipment then my 2 
way radio.  What about my issued trunking radio ?   
> > From: Joe Griffin [mailto:surgtech@c...]
> > I work in an Operating Room at my local hospital.  Our equipment 
manager carries around with him a hospital issued cell phone, so 
vendors can call him, as he is always never in his office.  It had a 
cover on it so i couldn't get a look at who mafe it or a model #, but 
i kinda looked like some of the older iden units.
> paul@t... / http://www.timmins.net/

---

From: "Blake Bowers" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 17:57:20 -0600

Actually, many fire department, and police department radios are not 
intrinsically safe.  They may have felt that seeing as you are not public
safety, (at least as far as they are concerned) that you do not need
the radio.  

They would play hell getting mine.