- Apr 14, 2001
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Hospitals Ease Cellphone Bans
Fears Wane That the Devices Interfere With Equipment; Echoes of the Airline Debate
By SARAH RUBENSTEIN, The Wall Street Journal
(Jan. 18) -- As the Federal Communications Commission revisits rules against cellphone use on airplanes, hospitals are rethinking their own policies on the devices.
Many are loosening restrictions that have become increasingly difficult to enforce anyway. New York-Presbyterian Hospital now allows cellphones in patient rooms but not intensive-care units, operating rooms or procedure rooms. St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston last fall relaxed its ban on cellphones, BlackBerries and other wireless gadgets, allowing patients to use them in common areas such as lobbies, waiting rooms and the cafeteria, but not in areas where patients are getting medical care.
Other hospitals that have scaled back their rules in recent months include Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Holyoke Medical Center in Holyoke, Mass., and Intermountain Health Care, a system of 21 hospitals in Utah and Idaho. Taking things a step further, Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center -- which relaxed its cellphone ban in 2001 -- recently started a policy of purchasing cellphones for its interns.
Policies against cellphone use in hospitals largely began in the 1990s, as the devices became more popular and hospitals grew concerned about interfering with vital medical equipment such as cardiac monitors. The bans mirrored restrictions by the FCC and Federal Aviation Administration on the use of cellphones on airplanes, which emerged out of fear that the gadgets could interfere with flight communications.
But the issue of whether and how wireless devices affect other electronic equipment is unresolved. Research on the subject is limited, though there is growing evidence that today's lower-power, digital cellphones aren't as likely as older models to be a problem for medical equipment, especially if they aren't in close proximity. In December, the FCC initiated a study into possibly easing its ban on cellphones on planes.
In many respects, disobedience has created built-in experiments about cellphone safety. "If you wander through hospitals, you'll see people on cellphones," says Robert Kelly, chief operating officer for New York-Presbyterian Hospital at the Columbia University Medical Center. "You certainly have not seen, in the literature, hundreds or thousands of deaths or complications that go back to cellphones."
Just as travelers have pressed for change on the airline front, the moves by hospitals come amid pressure from patients and doctors who want to be able to use their phones. The hospitals say that in allowing cellphone use at least in some circumstances, they are recognizing the reality of how cellphones are used today, with patients and visitors routinely flouting broad bans. Many note that they still maintain limits on using the devices in highly sensitive areas such as ICUs.
Once some hospitals began allowing cellphone use, "everyone else was the bad guy," says Mike Reno, vice president of facilities and support services at Houston's St. Luke's Episcopal.
When Alexandra Walko had her first baby at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut in 2002, she says she was eager to reach 20 friends and family members. So she and her husband did what was easiest: They dialed their cellphones, even though the hospital's policy against the practice was clearly posted. "I think I was self-conscious when nurses were in there," says Mrs. Walko, a sales manager for a consulting firm.
There are "only so many people" to enforce the rules, says Greenwich Hospital spokesman George Pawlush. "We do what we can to make sure that we abide by the policy."
Many hospitals such as Greenwich still have tight cellphone regulations. Nobody can be absolutely certain a cellphone never will interfere with medical devices, especially when it comes to older phones and equipment, communications experts say. The Food and Drug Administration and FCC leave the decisions up to hospitals, but the FDA gave some words of caution in a 2002 bulletin: Though patient injuries from cellphones are relatively rare, "in certain situations medical devices may be susceptible to potentially serious problems."
Cellphone-related incidents in the past helped make the case for prohibitions. In one incident in the mid-'90s, an Intermountain Health Care patient was being transported from one hospital to another and an ambulance crew member used a cellphone, says Michael Rawson, corporate director of safety, security and environmental health for the hospital chain. All of the infusion pumps hooked up to the patient turned off, he says. "They had to stop the ambulance and restart the stuff." The patient was fine in the end, hospital officials recall.
Now most cellphones are digital and radiate less power, and medical technology typically operates at different frequencies, says Joy Laskar, director of the Georgia Electronic Design Center at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Interference is "very unlikely," he says. Many hospitals that have relaxed their bans say they tested cellphones on site before changing the rules.
The Mayo Clinic in a 2001 study tested several cellphones near cardiopulmonary equipment, and some interference occurred in seven of the 17 medical devices tested. Researchers found that 7% of the tests revealed incidents that were "clinically important," and the most problematic cases occurred when the phones were six to 33 inches from the equipment.
Lingering fears of such problems have led hospitals to create sometimes byzantine rules on cellphone use. Texas Children's Hospital until last summer had a simple ban on cellphone use. Now, the hospital has a list of more than 170 models of phones and other wireless devices such as BlackBerries that either are or aren't "hospital acceptable." Texas Children's also now has a rule that prohibits phones within a three-foot radius of medical devices. They aren't allowed at all in operating rooms and intensive-care units.
Enforcement is a challenge, says David Finn, the hospital's chief information officer. "Generally, unless someone is near monitors, we don't really try to deal with them," he says.
On the flip side, courtesy issues are a growing concern. At Holyoke Medical Center, which eased its restrictions in September, the hospital added a rule prohibiting the use of any phones' camera functions. "The real issue now is patient privacy," says Clark A. Fenn, vice president of inpatient services.
Hospitals are inherently stressful environments, and cellphone use by others has the potential to fray nerves, hospital administrators say. Nurses at Holyoke and many other hospitals also are instructed to ask noisy talkers to keep it down.
And then there is the pesky issue of camera phones. St. Luke's Episcopal in Houston says its new policy states that camera-phone users must comply with privacy rules for photography, which require a patient's written consent for a photo.
Fears Wane That the Devices Interfere With Equipment; Echoes of the Airline Debate
By SARAH RUBENSTEIN, The Wall Street Journal
(Jan. 18) -- As the Federal Communications Commission revisits rules against cellphone use on airplanes, hospitals are rethinking their own policies on the devices.
Many are loosening restrictions that have become increasingly difficult to enforce anyway. New York-Presbyterian Hospital now allows cellphones in patient rooms but not intensive-care units, operating rooms or procedure rooms. St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston last fall relaxed its ban on cellphones, BlackBerries and other wireless gadgets, allowing patients to use them in common areas such as lobbies, waiting rooms and the cafeteria, but not in areas where patients are getting medical care.
Other hospitals that have scaled back their rules in recent months include Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Holyoke Medical Center in Holyoke, Mass., and Intermountain Health Care, a system of 21 hospitals in Utah and Idaho. Taking things a step further, Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center -- which relaxed its cellphone ban in 2001 -- recently started a policy of purchasing cellphones for its interns.
Policies against cellphone use in hospitals largely began in the 1990s, as the devices became more popular and hospitals grew concerned about interfering with vital medical equipment such as cardiac monitors. The bans mirrored restrictions by the FCC and Federal Aviation Administration on the use of cellphones on airplanes, which emerged out of fear that the gadgets could interfere with flight communications.
But the issue of whether and how wireless devices affect other electronic equipment is unresolved. Research on the subject is limited, though there is growing evidence that today's lower-power, digital cellphones aren't as likely as older models to be a problem for medical equipment, especially if they aren't in close proximity. In December, the FCC initiated a study into possibly easing its ban on cellphones on planes.
In many respects, disobedience has created built-in experiments about cellphone safety. "If you wander through hospitals, you'll see people on cellphones," says Robert Kelly, chief operating officer for New York-Presbyterian Hospital at the Columbia University Medical Center. "You certainly have not seen, in the literature, hundreds or thousands of deaths or complications that go back to cellphones."
Just as travelers have pressed for change on the airline front, the moves by hospitals come amid pressure from patients and doctors who want to be able to use their phones. The hospitals say that in allowing cellphone use at least in some circumstances, they are recognizing the reality of how cellphones are used today, with patients and visitors routinely flouting broad bans. Many note that they still maintain limits on using the devices in highly sensitive areas such as ICUs.
Once some hospitals began allowing cellphone use, "everyone else was the bad guy," says Mike Reno, vice president of facilities and support services at Houston's St. Luke's Episcopal.
When Alexandra Walko had her first baby at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut in 2002, she says she was eager to reach 20 friends and family members. So she and her husband did what was easiest: They dialed their cellphones, even though the hospital's policy against the practice was clearly posted. "I think I was self-conscious when nurses were in there," says Mrs. Walko, a sales manager for a consulting firm.
There are "only so many people" to enforce the rules, says Greenwich Hospital spokesman George Pawlush. "We do what we can to make sure that we abide by the policy."
Many hospitals such as Greenwich still have tight cellphone regulations. Nobody can be absolutely certain a cellphone never will interfere with medical devices, especially when it comes to older phones and equipment, communications experts say. The Food and Drug Administration and FCC leave the decisions up to hospitals, but the FDA gave some words of caution in a 2002 bulletin: Though patient injuries from cellphones are relatively rare, "in certain situations medical devices may be susceptible to potentially serious problems."
Cellphone-related incidents in the past helped make the case for prohibitions. In one incident in the mid-'90s, an Intermountain Health Care patient was being transported from one hospital to another and an ambulance crew member used a cellphone, says Michael Rawson, corporate director of safety, security and environmental health for the hospital chain. All of the infusion pumps hooked up to the patient turned off, he says. "They had to stop the ambulance and restart the stuff." The patient was fine in the end, hospital officials recall.
Now most cellphones are digital and radiate less power, and medical technology typically operates at different frequencies, says Joy Laskar, director of the Georgia Electronic Design Center at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Interference is "very unlikely," he says. Many hospitals that have relaxed their bans say they tested cellphones on site before changing the rules.
The Mayo Clinic in a 2001 study tested several cellphones near cardiopulmonary equipment, and some interference occurred in seven of the 17 medical devices tested. Researchers found that 7% of the tests revealed incidents that were "clinically important," and the most problematic cases occurred when the phones were six to 33 inches from the equipment.
Lingering fears of such problems have led hospitals to create sometimes byzantine rules on cellphone use. Texas Children's Hospital until last summer had a simple ban on cellphone use. Now, the hospital has a list of more than 170 models of phones and other wireless devices such as BlackBerries that either are or aren't "hospital acceptable." Texas Children's also now has a rule that prohibits phones within a three-foot radius of medical devices. They aren't allowed at all in operating rooms and intensive-care units.
Enforcement is a challenge, says David Finn, the hospital's chief information officer. "Generally, unless someone is near monitors, we don't really try to deal with them," he says.
On the flip side, courtesy issues are a growing concern. At Holyoke Medical Center, which eased its restrictions in September, the hospital added a rule prohibiting the use of any phones' camera functions. "The real issue now is patient privacy," says Clark A. Fenn, vice president of inpatient services.
Hospitals are inherently stressful environments, and cellphone use by others has the potential to fray nerves, hospital administrators say. Nurses at Holyoke and many other hospitals also are instructed to ask noisy talkers to keep it down.
And then there is the pesky issue of camera phones. St. Luke's Episcopal in Houston says its new policy states that camera-phone users must comply with privacy rules for photography, which require a patient's written consent for a photo.
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