Cellular phone use in hospitals

["Boyd, Sean M" <SBB@CDRH.FDA.GOV>]

The following documents may be of assistance to those of you concerned about
electromagnetic interference from cellular phones in hospitals.  They were
written for clinical and biomedical engineers to use in addressing
interference issues with medical equipment and the use of cellular phones
and other portable transmitters (e.g. walkie-talkies) in hospitals.

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI)
published Technical Information Report (TIR) 18, Guidance on electromagnetic
compatibility of medical devices for clinical/biomedical engineers -Part 1:
Radiated radio-frequency electromagnetic energy.  TIR 18 provides
information and guidance on medical device EMC to clinical engineers and
other biomedical personnel to help them evaluate the radiated
radio-frequency (RF) electromagnetic environment in their individual
health-care facilities, and implement actions needed to minimize the
potential risks associated with electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems.
This document contains sections on assessing the RF environment in the
clinic, developing policies, examples of device interactions, and a
bibliography of references for device EMC.

TIR No. 18 -1997 is available from: 
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation
3330 Washington Blvd, Suite 400
Arlington, VA 22201-4598
Phone: 1-703-525-4890 or 1-800-332-2264
FAX: 1-703-276-0793
http://www.aami.org <http://www.aami.org/> 

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Committee C63
(EMC) published C63.18, Recommended practice for an on-site, ad hoc test
method for estimating radiated electromagnetic immunity of medical devices
to specific radio-frequency transmitters. C63.18 is intended to provide an
inexpensive, relatively reproducible test method for estimating the radiated
RF electromagnetic immunity of medical devices to available, portable RF
transmitters that might be operated in the vicinity. This document provides
a test method that can be performed by clinical and biomedical engineers to
improve reproducibility and inter-comparison of test results. It also
provides information to facilitate development of policies and procedures
for managing the use of specific RF transmitters within specific areas of a
health-care facility

ANSI C63.18 (IEEE product number SH94556) is available from:
The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE)
In the US and Canada: 1-800-678-IEEE (4333)
Outside the US: 1-732-981-0600
FAX: 1-732-981-9667
http://standards.ieee.org/catalog/electromag.html
<http://standards.ieee.org/catalog/electromag.html> 

This and other information can be found at FDA's Center for Devices and
Radiological Health Electromagnetic Compatibility web site:

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/emc/index.html
<http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/emc/index.html> 

LT Sean M. Boyd, USPHS

FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health
Office of Compliance (HFZ 342)
2094 Gaither Rd., Rm. 320
Rockville, MD  20850
301-594-4654 x128
301-594-4672 fax
sbb@cdrh.fda.gov <mailto:sbb@cdrh.fda.gov> 

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