Blackberry & Palm Usage

[Dale]

I would like to know if anyone is using either of the following units in their hospital and if you have any interference problems with telemetry or any other medical equipment.

Palm Treo 650:
Digital only (runs 1XRTT over CDMA2000 frequency division multiplexing)
Power is 600 mWatts
Frequency is dual band 800/1900 MHZ.

Blackberry 7100/7700/7500/7200 series:
Digital only (runs GSM/GPRS networks)
Power is 600 mWatts
Frequency is 850/1900 MHZ



Dale Koroscil
Biomedical Technology
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences
Room 1573
(807684-6344
koroscid@tbh.net

[coryg]

We have 3 Treo units used in house, along with a number of CDMA cell phones and we have had no interference. We are using a siemens/draeger solution on the 608-614MHz band. Are you running into problems or just investigating?

Thanks,
-Cory

[Dale]

We are investigating reviewing our cell policy and possible addition of Palms and or Blackberry units. Thanks for the reply

[seyfo]

I think first one is good

thehealthnews.org

[oahubiomed]

Hi,
You may want to check out ECRI who has written a couple of articles re. use of cell phones and like devices in the hospital environment. They provide a good deal of usefull information based on their in-house testing of cell phone to medical device compatibilities. What's more, ECRI does not give into the hysteria of suggesting hospital-wide bands on cell phones. It seems to me it all comes down to staff and patient education and effective 'signage' in the affected areas....

[Spirit]

Palmtop devices that use WiFi (such as an iPhone) can slow other WiFi medical devices. However, another concern is infection control if clinicians use them. These devices are seldom disinfected, and can therefore spread nasty staph infections from one room to another. But if you are going to ban palms and blackberries for infection control reasons, can I suggest you also get a set of sheep shears and cut off the tie of any clinician who wears one of those never-washed infection spreaders.