2016-06-13 14:52:59
The use of mobile telephones in hospitals is the subject of a circular of October 1995, which warns of the risks of interference from electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile telephones with medical devices. It invites healthcare establishments to inform their staff and patients of this potential danger and insists on the need to switch off mobile phones in healthcare services.
In 2003, a study by the Committee for the Evaluation and Dissemination of Technological Innovations (CEDIT), indicated that the interference caused by the use of mobile telephones would not disturb medical devices at a distance greater than 1.5 meters and would not present no danger, subject to certain precautions to be taken by active medical implant carriers. These findings have sometimes led to the relaxation of bans within some health facilities.
At the same time, the use of mobile phones has become commonplace in hospitals, whether by healthcare professionals, including for certain professional applications (emergency calls, alarms, etc.), patients or their families. The recommendations made on the basis of the 1995 circular thus appear to be less and less applied.
In this context, the Directorate General for Health and the Directorate General for Risk Prevention asked ANSES to produce an opinion on the potential risks of electromagnetic disturbance of medical devices exposed to radiofrequencies and, if necessary, to propose minimum safety distances to be respected according to the different sensitivities of medical devices.
The Agency’s work
ANSES’s expertise covers electrical and electronic medical devices used in hospital care departments, as well as active implantable medical devices (pacemaker, neurostimulator, etc.) used outside of these services.
The sources of electromagnetic fields considered are the mobile communication systems of caregivers, patients and their families: mobile phones, Wi-Fi devices, BluetoothDECT cordless telephones (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone) et talkies-walkiesin particular of the TETRA type (Terrestrial Trunked Radio), technologies RFID (Radiofrequency Identification). The mobile phone is potentially the highest source of radio frequency exposure, in terms of intensity, among all the radio sources to which the population is exposed on a daily basis.
The Agency’s recommendations
Given the extreme diversity of both electromagnetic field sources (frequency characteristics, power, signals, etc.) and electronic medical devices, but also situations of exposure of medical devices, it is not possible to define a single rule concerning a minimum distance to be observed between medical devices and electromagnetic sources, applicable to all situations. .
Medical devices in hospitals
The ban on the use of mobile phones and other personal communicating objects in healthcare establishments appears to have little justification. The setting up of authorized, restricted or prohibited use zones is recommended. The precise definition of such zoning should be the responsibility of each hospital establishment, with the support of its risk management officer.
The Agency recommends that healthcare establishments implement measures to minimize the risk of interference with medical devices:
- with regard to patients, visitors and medical staff using mobile phones for personal reasons: mobile phones should be switched off in places containing electro-medical devices with a critical function or used to sustain life (intensive care units, operating theaters , neonatology, emergency services, etc.), as well as near patient beds connected to electrical medical devices;
- in the case of medical personnel using their mobile telephone for professional reasons, telephone calls should not be made near electromedical devices.
Insofar as the use of DECT telephones generates lower exposure than mobile telephones, the Agency recommends that medical professionals favor the use of this means of communication.
Active implantable medical devices
The Agency recommends that wearers of active implanted medical devices (heart implants, pacemakers, etc.) ensure that the strongest sources of exposure (mobile phones) are kept away from their device. Thus, the recommendations appearing in the information booklets or user manuals must be applied, in particular concerning the distances to be respected when using a mobile phone (do not put the phone in a pocket near an implant , telephone with the opposite ear, etc.) or passing through security gates (anti-theft, airports).
It would also be appropriate to train the players in the care chain (manufacturers of medical equipment, health professionals) so that they relay these messages to patients and their families, and in particular the precautions for use recommended by the manufacturers.
Finally, the Agency considers that, in the same way as hospital practitioners, health professionals who use electrostimulators (physiotherapists for example) should benefit from training enabling them to analyze the benefit/risk for patients associated with the practice of certain treatments or diagnostics involving the presence of an active implanted medical device and a radio frequency transmitter.
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