UK MDA (Medical Devices Agency) warns of mobile communications risk to devices:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
The UK Medical Devices Agency is warning healthcare organisations planning to use cellphones or two-way radios as communication backup as part of their millennium operating regimes that such products can interfere with medical devices, especially at short range. Cellphones should be switched off in the following locations, it warns: operating theatres and treatment areas where sensitive devices may be in use; by a bedside where the patient is connected to any electromechanical devices; and other areas where there is a perceived risk. Two-way radio handsets present the highest risk of causing electromagnetic interference problems, the agency says.