IEC 80001 to Impact Providers
In the first installment on the IEC 80001 standard, I delved into the history of this particular standards effort and the patient safety needs the standard is supposed to address. There are two kinds of products being bought by providers that give rise to serious questions about patient safety:
- Medical device systems – that is medical devices that extend their capabilities by leveraging software running on general purpose computers, and
- IT-networks – the wired and wireless networks – both local and wide area networks – that connect medical devices to their own servers and client applications, in addition to connecting them to other systems of medical devices and/or health care information systems.
Medical device systems used to be deployed on their own private local area networks. This paradigm is breaking down for two reasons:
- Private networks result in “islands of information” that make it difficult to pass information between medical device systems and the greater IT infrastructure within the provider organization, and
- Medical devices that were once relegated to specific locations are becoming enterprise applications in use almost anywhere in the provider’s enterprise.
It’s just not practical to install multiple private networks across ever increasing portions of the enterprise. A mid to large sized hospital can have 50 to more than a hundred private networks supporting medical device systems. It is admittedly pretty easy (if not cost effective) to bridge private networks to move data between medical device systems and applications like ADT and EMRs. The real driver that is tearing down private medical device system networks is the fact that many devices are used across the entire enterprise rather than individual departments and units.
More Hospitals Lift Cell Phone Bans
According to a survey by CHIME, more hospitals are reducing restrictions on cell phones.
Twenty-three percent of the 185 survey respondents reported their organization has lifted all restrictions on mobile phone use, up 5.5% from a similar survey conducted by the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based organization in 2004. Only 11 respondents, or 6%, indicated that cell phone use is entirely
prohibited at their hospitals.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents reported mobile phone use is restricted only in certain areas, such as the emergency department or intensive care unit. And 39% indicated their organization has or will install technology to enhance cell phone signals.
Respondents, however, also reported that some problems have arisen as a result of increased use of mobile phones in their hospitals. For example, some say privacy and noise pollution concerns are compelling them to continue some mobile phone restrictions. Further, some respondents indicated their organization has specific bans on camera phones in patient areas.
As I noted on the Biomed Listserv this week, RF interference is a fact of life and cell phones are but one contributor. Regarding RF interference risk, cell phone’s will never be proven to be perfectly safe – but then neither will hair dryers, florescent light ballasts, microwaves ovens, and elevator motors. The key is risk management.
Sadly there’s no link to the actual report on CHIME’s web site. (You’d think they could have found a corporate sponsor for the study, and then published it in support of their advocacy for effective use of IT in health care and as a service to the industry – that is why CHIME exists, isn’t it?)
