AJ the greek

Due to the fact of various hospital policies around cell phone use, my skepticism antenna wonders what is the deal exactly?

We have been to hospitals that completely ban, allow only in front lobby, or even allowed in a waiting room on the maternity floor; but never in a room, though, so at least that has been consistent in my experience.

I seem to remember Mobil gas stations wanting to ban their use at the pumps, but only as a precaution, since it hadn't really been proven to ever have caused a problem.

Is it one of those, "If we can just save one life...."

I know this is a Dean Edell talk show question, but I thought I could get a more interesting answer here, quicker too!

Any ideas?

callina

My husband works in a hospital and he says that the cell phone ban is a result of interference with certain equipment, like the nuclear cameras where he works. The cell frequencies are the culprit. You may see hospital employees using cell phones, but these may be a special type that uses a different network of frequencies. Or they may know where the equipment is and where it is okay to use a regular cell phone. As cell phones have become ubiquitous, my understanding is that newer hospital equipment is shielded from cell transmissions and the ban may only apply to areas that aren't shielded or that contain older equipment. Some rooms where he is are so shielded that it would be safe to use the phone, but you can't get a signal.

This information is second hand from my hubby but he is an IT manager, so he does deal with this issue. Any mistakes in my explanation are due to my own failure to remember what he said, NOT due to the way he explained it to me.

Hope that helps.

Major Billy

From the <a href="http://www.motorola.com/GSS/CSG/Satellite/text/help/qa.html" target="_blank">Motorola</a> website:

AJ the greek

Interesting, thanks.

I guess knowing where it is ok would require much more knowledge than I have, so I'll continue to obey the signs.

Always curious.

Coragyps

The "potentially explosive atmospheres" that Motorola mentioned would include many anesthetics - surely a problem only in operating rooms, but those lawyers want to be sure. It sounds like the electrical interference is reason enough to keep them turned off, anyway - same as in an airplane at takeoff and landing.

alek0

This is really interesting, especially considering that here we had recently a court case where patient sued the surgeon because he punctured his colon while talking over the mobile
phone (about sale of a BMW) during surgery and the guy had to have another surgery later during the day for repair. Hospital did take some disciplinary action, but later GMC ruled that the surgeon was not guilty and the use of mobile phones is perfectly OK in the operating rooms.

WTF? I mean GMC is known to be waaayyyy to lenient to doctors (no matter what malpractice claims are they get at most a warning letter except for insurance frauds) but ruling that mobile phones are OK in the operating theatre? How do you sterilize them? What about interference with equipment? What about anesthetics as "explosive atmospheres"?

Bree

As a point of reference, UPS drivers aren't allowed to take their DIAD boards (those brown electronic clipboards which record delivery information) with them into certain areas either, even though they use radio signals which I believe are nothing like cell phones.

mac_philo

I think we are overlooking the best reason why cell phones don't belong in hospitals--they are very annoying. If you were bedridden and sick, how would you like to endlessly hear the same idiotic cell phone conversations over and over?

"I'm at the hospital."
"Hi! I'm at the hospital."
"I'm downtown."
"I'm on the third floor."
"Do you want me to pick up some Chippos at 7-11?"

I imagine that being forced to endure such inanity would have a statistically significant relationship to recovery rates.

[ April 01, 2002: Message edited by: mac_philo ]</p>

Dr Rick

Most of the equipment in an OR theatre is not sterile. During surgery a "sterile field" is maintained at and around the operative site, and instruments and appendages that may enter that field are also kept sterile. The ventilators, anesthesia equipment, monitors, floors, walls, atmosphere, intercoms, phones, CD players, and most of the surfaces of the OR personel and the patient are not sterilized or sterlizable.

Many medical procedures are performed without any sterile field at all; the procedure that made the news in which the surgeon was talking on the phone is one of them.

It is not uncommon for a physician to interrupt a case briefly to communicate to another provider; for instance, we may ask another doctor for advice or to come and assist with a technical problem or an unexpected finding, but obviously a surgeon should not continue working while talking on the phone and should definitely not take calls of a personal nature while in surgery.

Most anesthetic agents used in modern ORs are non-flammable so that they are safe to use around electrical equipment.

trunks2k

WEll as far as hosptials go, you can't use a cell phone because a lot of the equipment is very sensitive, and can be seriously affected by cell phone use. This is mostly on floors with portable monitors.