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Hospitals, CT scans and mobile phone blindness
Rank: Forum user 
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Just a quick one.
Down at Singleton Hospital yesterday here in no-so-sunny Swansea, the wife and I were in the waiting area ready for her cancer scan, so we were a little bit under stress. A sign on the wall stating 'do not use mobile phones' you know the type.
I sort-of pointedly looked at the sign and the chap along side did the same whilst yapping on his phone. The young woman to our right was happy texting away. Neither one took any notice of the signs.
I asked the nurse if it was ok to use the phones and she said that she thought there was no problem and it 'shouldn't' give a problem with the scan.
To say that this added to the stress levels would be a slight understatement.
My question is this:
Do mobile phones have a detrimental effect on CT scanners and the like?
If not, why are the signs in place as staff and some patients take no notice of them anyway.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Hi Isaac, the following is from the Medical and Healthcare Regulatory Authority, which is the authoritative source of guidance on this kind of thing for all healthcare providers:
'The MHRA does not recommend a ban on the use of mobile phones in hospitals. However, a mobile phone can affect sensitive equipment if it is closer than one metre. Therefore we recommend that hospitals/trusts develop local policies to minimise the risk of interference in places such as:
treatment areas such as intensive therapy units (ITU), special care baby units (SCBU), operating theatres and accident and emergency departments;
by the patient’s bedside when the patient is connected to any electro-medical device;
other areas where interference with a device could have a detrimental effect on patients.'
This is guidance from 2014. I suspect the posters in your local hospital have been there for some time, as there was a serious worry for quite a while that phones would interfere with CT scans and so on. As you can see, current thinking is that they do, but only at very short ranges.
Of course the posters could still be there because management want a nice peaceful hospital without the constant babble of people on the phone... And maybe to keep staff's mind on the job rather than on facebook; but probably they're just living in the past,
John
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Isacc, not a specialist but have spent many hours in hospitals and have learnt the following. Generally mobile phones should not be used within 2 meters of any electrical medical equipment. Waiting areas are usually in the 'permitted' areas and control is more about politeness etc. These days many hospitals have free wifi for patients and others to use so there cant be any significant risks in most areas. The whole pcture changed around 4 or 5 years ago when the Dept of Health guidance finally recognised that a more permissive use of mobile phones was needed. They accepted that communication with family and friends is an essential support and comfort for inpatients.
Much better than all those years of having to pay exorbitant fees for bedside phones! If you do a search you can find some examples of hospital policies on mobile phone use that otuline the process in more detail.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Whoops! typing whilst JWK was posting. That response is much better than mine!
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Rank: Forum user
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Many thanks chaps. One less worry :-)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Then if the signs are no longer needed they should be removed, else people who ignore those signs could ignore others as well. Evidently also cause unnecessary distress.
Isaac - hope everything is ok when you get the results.
Chris
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Rank: Super forum user
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Maybe someone should tell the CT operators at a hospital I recently had a HRCT scan at...she was texting while the scan was operating.
I don't think a CT scanner is particularly sensitive to low-intensity non-ionising radiation.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Anecdotally I never find a problem around home Haemodialysis machines or their associated RO units with a mobile, or at least the ones I come across anyway.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Watch what the consultants do and point out that they do when you do the same. In fact my wife was told by the ward sister during chemo if Dr X, the consultant does it then it must be OK for her to ring me!!!
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks again for the good wishes
Not an easy road to travel.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Once again we have the example of people being 'trained' not to follow safety signs and to make their own minds up about them.
Months or years later when someone has a significant accident because someone did not take notice of a safety sign the management will likely discipline the relevant person(s) without ever really understanding it was their poor management systems which was the cause of the problem.
Regards
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