Please Turn Off Your Cell Phone!
For anyone that’s been in a hospital in the last few years I’m sure that you’re aware of the strict policy of turning your cell phone off. If you’ve ever asked why, you would have been told that there’s a chance that it might interfere with some life sustaining medical electronic device. There was even a story circulating a few years back about someone forgetting to turn off their cell phone which caused the death of a child.
Turns out that not only was the original story an urban legend, debunked by snopes.com, but a recent study by the Mayo clinic found that there’s no real concern about using cell phones around medical equipment.
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I would think turning off the cell phones would be more of a courtesy thing. People are resting, or in pain… the last thing they want to hear is your phone conversation.
Comment by Samantha
— March 20, 2007 @ 7:51 am
I used to work in emergency and critical care settings, and I never turned my phone off; even four or five years ago, research was being done that showed that cell phones pose no risk to medical equipment, and speaking anecdotally that’s 100% true. I never had a problem even if the phone (on silent or vibrate) rang next to a piece of equipment.
Comment by Anonymous Medico
— March 21, 2007 @ 8:24 am
I’m sure if you’re in a hospital, you would be considerate enough to use it for appropriate reasons, such as calling loved ones to let them know what’s going on…
Comment by Kaywil
— March 21, 2007 @ 8:41 am
If it really mattered, they would be asking people to switch off the cell phones at the reception area itself. Also how about the people who walk outside the hospital and talk on the phones?
Comment by Krishna Kumar
— March 21, 2007 @ 9:13 am
I hate the idea of allowing mobile phones in hospitals - if there’s one place that really should remain sacred it should be somewhere you’re trying to get some peace and quiet.
Sure, allow them in public areas away from wards, and allow doctors and nurses to have them for work, but keep them ‘banned’ otherwise.
Aside from anything else, most have cameras now - that’s not something I think we want to encourage.
IMHO the white lie that they interfere with equipment is fine seeing as more people will respect that than ‘privacy issues’.
Comment by Jonathan
— March 21, 2007 @ 9:59 am
I know a couple of nurses and physicians assistants (PAs) who use cell phones in hospitals and doctor’s offices every day. In fact, like many other modern professionals, PA’s often use PDAs and smart phones to access databases and internet recourses from their handheld devices to assist in diagnosis and treatment. While I do not have scientific fact to back it up, I and my nurse friend believe that the only reason to restrict cellular phone use is for the comfort of recovering patients and grieving/concerned guests.
Comment by Josh
— March 21, 2007 @ 10:23 am
One of the reasons the cell phones are banned is pretty much the same reason why you can’t use them in a gas station: sparks produced between the battery and the circuits could start a fire, either in the gasoline-filled atmosphere in a gas station, or with the help of inflamable substances in hospitals, like oxygen cylinders.
Well, the chance of that happening is the same from an explosion caused by somebody starting an engine, or simply turning on a light switch, which cause the exact same spark.
Has anybody ever blown up a gas station just by turning the key and starting the engine?
Comment by Dan
— March 21, 2007 @ 10:32 am
Not only are these signs posted in Hospitals, but I saw one yesterday in my Vet’s office when waiting with my bulldog to get his shots.
Upon inquiry, they were under the impression the radio frequency froom the phones interfered with their equipment, and the ban was not for the solitude of the environment…….
Comment by Eurotrash1168
— March 21, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
If cell phones create static electical impulses that may cause an explosion, what about the hundreds of TV Sets, ice makers, blanket heaters in the hospital, not to mention all the pagers that the staff and resident doctors are wearing ???????
Comment by Eurotrash1168
— March 21, 2007 @ 1:26 pm
Hospitals are full of telephones. There’s one beside every patient bed. Far from wanting to be isolated and alone, as come commenters imply, patients desire to be able to reach out to family and friends. Many hospital machines contains signaling devices (cell phones) of their own, to communicate with the computer system, or signal the staff’s receivers, either phones, Blackberries, or computers. I’ll use my cell phone guilt free in a hospital (and on a plane) any time I want.
Comment by Bane
— March 21, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
1. the cellphone ban at gas station is from the world war 2, says the rumour (an english ban on using radios while filling up gas, so the enemy wouldn’t know where the gas stations were). Discoverys mythbusters had to work really really hard to light a container of gas/oxygen with a cellphone. almost impossible.
2. if you going to ban cellphones because you can’t listen to other peoples conversations, then it’s the conversations that should be banned. not the phones.
3. Stockholm, Sweden, banned cellphone use at the tube for a while, because they said some people were allergic to electronical devices… I guess they didn’t know what made the train moving in the first place.
Comment by Henrik
— March 21, 2007 @ 3:08 pm
I would be really concerned if a cell phone could cause a life saving machine to malfunction. After all, as noted above, people use them all the time whether they’re officially ‘allowed’ to or not.
Comment by Dylan
— March 21, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
Uh, Dan, um, have you ever thought about the sparks produced by, say, sparkplugs? Your statement about gas stations is totally unfounded. As is the notion that using a cell phone in a hospital might cause a fire.
Comment by JeremyNYC
— March 21, 2007 @ 4:19 pm
I worked as a Biomedical Engineer for many years. It is true that this will not really interfere with medical devices. Cellphones are very low wattage, and using frequencies that really don’t overlap with anything used in a Clinical setting. Telemetry in a Cardiac ICU perhaps? Doubtful even there.
After all, Pagers have abounded in hospitals for years, and no one has complained about them interfering with anything, except perhaps one’s peace-of-mind.
The stories about Microwaves interfering with Pacemakers is partially true though; some models were susceptible to interference. That’s pretty much been resolved too, although the manufacturers still don’t recommend having a pacer and standing next to microwave sources.
Comment by Christopher
— March 21, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
There’re studies with diferent conclusions, so doubts about both human health and computer possible reactions persist. I prefer health to such communication.
Comment by Diari del Votant Anònim
— March 22, 2007 @ 6:14 am
I was in ICU for a week in 2005 and was not only allowed to use my cell phone, but the nurses plugged it in and charged it for me. Outside of ICU it was forbidden - perhaps a courtesy thing since I could use it when I had my own room and they threaten people with possibly killing people because people are generally assholes?
Comment by Katy
— March 24, 2007 @ 2:12 am
It is believed that cellphones are banned in UK hospitals because they might damage the hospital’s cashflow — the companies supplying bedside telephones pay well for the privilege (and charge the patients plenty).
Comment by FH
— March 25, 2007 @ 3:42 pm
Have you ever sat beside someone in a confined space, like an airplane after it’s landed, and had to listen to their conversation? Be it about the latest pop music (liberally spiced with ‘yeah, whatever’ and ’so jordan is the, like, *hottest* guy ever’) or the latest business deal that they’re engineering (’i'm willing to offer $xxx, but…’), or just about anything in between, it should make you think. What would make it ok to sit there and have a phone conversation, possibly something that would normally be private, in a completely public space with someone seated right beside you, and hearing bits and pieces, regardless of how hard they try not to?
Same goes in a hospital. People are there because they are sick. The cellphone ban is more for their peace and quiet. If you want to use a cellphone, leave the ward. At least in some hospitals, there are even courtesy phones near the ward entrance. As a patient, well, that would have to be negotiated with ward staff. The internal medicine ward staff has often brought the cordless phone to my Grandpa when he’s wanted to get in touch with my Grandma, because they didn’t have teh bedside phones.
Really, just take a moment to think about the people around you. Be courteous. If you’re there to visit, they want your attention, not merely your presence. If you’re there to heal…well, you’ll maybe have to do without talking about the latest hottie, or scheming up your next great business deal. Unless, of course, you can get a private room…come to think of it, go ahead and talk about teh hottie business deal, the other patients will campaign for you to be removed, and you’ll end up in that private, isolated room anyway.
Comment by Dana
— March 29, 2007 @ 3:02 pm
at my clinic, we ask our patients to turn off their cellphones mostly for their own sake. When they are concentrated on their conversation across the phone, the patients might miss their appointments when our nurses call their names due to the lack of alertness. This can cause serious trouble for the medical professionals and also the patients.
Also, like someone mentioned, clinics and hospitals are packed with patients who are in severe pain. We wish to provide a better environment for these patients while they wait patiently for their appointments. Therefore, we want to reduce the noise level in the clinic by prohibiting cellphone use. We have one courtesy phone for each waiting area for patients who urgently needs to make a phone call, and have limited the usage for each patient to 5 minutes. If a patient wish to have a lengthy conversation, we would ask the patient to go into the hall and finish the conversation on his/her own mobile phone.
as for safety concerns, my manager is always on her blackberry calling technical support and such. Therefore, I don’t sense there should be any safety issues related to using cellphones.
(btw, I work in a radiologist clinic with x-ray, ultrasound and mammogram machines)
Comment by Medical Sec — July 3, 2009 @ 2:19 pm
Please read the following and make your own decision. Just don’t play Russian roulette when I’m on a plane or in hospital.
Comment by Donna
— July 27, 2009 @ 2:36 am
2.5G and earlier GSM phones, and all other phones using TDMA definitely do interfere with electronics. All you need is a set of unshielded speakers and a quad-band world phone with no UMTS, and any time you get a call you’ll hear static on the speakers before your phone rings. Any studies showing cell phones do not interfere with electronics would be done with 3G and later GSM phones, and other phones using CDMA. Most people don’t know which technology their phone uses, so it’s better to just ask everyone to turn it off.
Comment by Robin — July 29, 2009 @ 4:01 am
I’m glad, I hate constant cell phone use. It is almost always unimportant enough for you to walk outside of the building and talk there. Even if there is a death, nobody at a hospital, who is sick, and probably afraid of dying, wants to hear you scream “_____ is dead!”. When I went to the hospital with my grandmother, we needed to call my mother but cell phones didn’t even get reception in the hospital. I’m assuming they put some kind of a blocking device since the cell phone worked perfectly right outside of the same room (outside).
Also, constant communication is just unhealthy, you lose a lot of personal time and talk about nothing, text about nothing, and create false senses of urgency to completely irrelevant things. I have some friends who are basically afraid of being alone, and not receiving a text message means they’ve fallen off the face of the Earth. But it’s not the device itself, it’s how you use it. That’s why mine is almost always off.
Comment by Andrew
— August 17, 2009 @ 10:39 am