Cell phones??

pricklypear · Jun 23, 2005

I'm not 100% sure, but I was told at my last job that the old analog phones disrupted tele signals, but most phones are digital now, so it's not a issue. When I first started there, there were not cell phones allowed (not like that stopped anybody) but about 3 years ago they started allowing people to use them. We allow people to use them in our ICU, in fact, many of our patients use them instead of the hospital phones.

Oh, another reason recently that some places may not allow them is because of all the picture phones out there. When my husband was in the ER last year, they wouldn't let anybody use cell phones because of the potential of HIPAA violations. If you think about it, someone could walk through and take pictures of everybody in there and no one would know.

JustMe · Jun 25, 2005

I'm not 100% sure, but I was told at my last job that the old analog phones disrupted tele signals, but most phones are digital now, so it's not a issue. When I first started there, there were not cell phones allowed (not like that stopped anybody) but about 3 years ago they started allowing people to use them. We allow people to use them in our ICU, in fact, many of our patients use them instead of the hospital phones.
Oh, another reason recently that some places may not allow them is because of all the picture phones out there. When my husband was in the ER last year, they wouldn't let anybody use cell phones because of the potential of HIPAA violations. If you think about it, someone could walk through and take pictures of everybody in there and no one would know.

How true! I hadn't thought about the picture phones. Thanks for the technology update! :)

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jun 26, 2005

there's been documentation that cell phone signals interfere with both monitoring equipment and iv pumps. in fact, i read an article where a patient died due to a cell phone signal causing his iv pump to dump an entire epi drip into him in just under an hour! also lost an entire lifeflite crew because someone's cellphone disrupted the navigation equipment . . . . this was about ten years ago when cellphones were fairly new and rare.

suzanne4, RN · Jun 26, 2005

They were analog back then, now almost all are digital.

You can use a phone on the plane after it has landed and the airlines are waiting for a response to see if they can be used all flight...........

Remember that during 9/11 almost everyone on a plane was calling family members with a cellphone and there were no issues related to that.

Most of it now has to do with privacy issues as well as cellphones ringing and disturbing everyone.

TexasGas · Jul 20, 2005

I will agree mostly with Suzanne on this. The no cell phone rule is in effect in most places for privacy issues. To the poster above, I would love to see the article where a pump was triggered to release epi at a higher rate than programmed. That just doesn't make sense. Why would an IV pump be affected by signaling unless it had remote capabilities? Furthermore, what evidence would show that a LifeFlite crew was interfered by cell phone if all of the passengers died, and nobody could declare that a phone rang at the time of navigational compromise? Sure, there are cell phone records and such, but if a helicopter is traveling fast enough to need navigational equipment (Since most fly low to the groud and in VERY familiar territory) chances are an analog signal was moving far too slow to keep pace with the movement of the huey moving at such a fast speed. I just don't buy it.

This is a long & tired debate, and believe it or not, (to my knowledge) the only documented cases of interference with aircraft equipment, medical equipment, or otherwise was in laboratories where the amplitude of the signlas of these devices was severely increased, and improbable wave combinations were used. Most of these studies were carried out by MIT students & faculty.

My father has worked in radio technology for over 25 years. (He has engineered stright-line, micro, strato, digital, etc.) To this day he says most of these claims of intereference, if not all, are farce.

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Jul 20, 2005

We have signs everywhere asking visitors not to use cell phones while in the monitored areas of the hospital. I have yet to hear a plausible reason. I have been told that the signals interfere with the equipment, and yet the physicians are allowed to use their phones while in these areas. I have never seen any interence from the cell phones. What's the deal??

I've heard of them having to do something with the gas pumps at the gas stations. Most have a warning label not to use while pumping gas or around the pump either. I too am curious as too exactly why :)

happydz · Jul 20, 2005

I've heard of them having to do something with the gas pumps at the gas stations. Most have a warning label not to use while pumping gas or around the pump either. I too am curious as too exactly why :)

There was a news article posted at my local gas station that said the older cell phones could spark a fire. It's really really really rare though.

Lukestar · Jul 20, 2005

We have signs everywhere asking visitors not to use cell phones while in the monitored areas of the hospital. I have yet to hear a plausible reason. I have been told that the signals interfere with the equipment, and yet the physicians are allowed to use their phones while in these areas. I have never seen any interence from the cell phones. What's the deal??

I don't think the newer digital phones cause problems with equiptment anymore. We still have signs up in our hospital but most everyone ignores them. Most physicians have them. Our nurses are not allowed to use them in the units, it looks very unprofessional to see a nurse or RT or other employee in a patient room making a personal phone call from a cell phone. I have gotten several complaints from patients or family members about this.

nursefreak1 · Aug 19, 2005

My father has worked in radio technology for over 25 years. (He has engineered stright-line, micro, strato, digital, etc.) To this day he says most of these claims of intereference, if not all, are farce.

My dad is also a retired engineer, who taught electrical and digital electronics. He says the same thing.

bellehill, RN · Aug 19, 2005

We have the same rules on all our tele units but I have never seen any interference. I would love to have the patients be able to use their cell phone in their room since they can't call long distance on our hospital phones. It would ease so much anxiety.

Tony35NYC · Aug 19, 2005

We have the same rules on all our tele units but I have never seen any interference. I would love to have the patients be able to use their cell phone in their room since they can't call long distance on our hospital phones. It would ease so much anxiety.

When I used to work in ICU cell phones were not allowed, but everybody used them anyway---the doctors, the visitors, and even the patients. I used to wonder about the monitors, too. but it seemed to me that, if anything, it was the monitors that would knock out the cell phones. Never once heard of any problems with the monitors r/t cell phone use.