EMI levels at a “patient care location” in a hospital

Author

Young, Conroy ; Ahmed Saoudy, S. ; Budwill, Sven

Author_Institution

Fac. of Eng. & Appl. Sci., Memorial Univ. of Newfoundland, St. John´´s, Nfld., Canada

Volume

2

fYear

1997

fDate

25-28 May 1997

Firstpage

625

Abstract

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) has the potential to cause malfunctions of electronic based medical equipment including incubators, ventilators and pacemakers. The Canadian Standard Association (CSA) standard 232.2-M89 requires that the patient beds should be surrounded by a 1.5 metre “Patient Care Location” wherein only medical-grade electrical devices are permitted. Non-medical devices like TVs, VCRs, fans, etc are not allowed within this area because of electrical safety considerations. EMI levels from more than one medical-grade electrical device, operated simultaneously, may not be as low as anticipated. This is due to accumulative EMI levels especially in intensive care units and emergency rooms. In this work, EMI (field strength) levels are measured at various sensitive locations in the Health Science Centre, St. John´s

Keywords

biomedical equipment; electromagnetic interference; patient care; safety; 1.5 m; Canadian Standard Association standard 232.2-M89; EMI levels; Health Science Centre; St. John´s; TVs; VCRs; electrical safety considerations; electronic based medical equipment; equipment malfunctions; fans; field strength levels; hospital; incubators; nonmedical devices; pacemakers; patient care location; ventilators; Antenna measurements; Biomedical engineering; Biomedical equipment; Cellular phones; Electric variables measurement; Electromagnetic interference; Hospitals; Land mobile radio; Medical diagnostic imaging; Medical treatment;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrical and Computer Engineering, 1997. Engineering Innovation: Voyage of Discovery. IEEE 1997 Canadian Conference on

Conference_Location

St. Johns, Nfld.

ISSN

0840-7789

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3716-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CCECE.1997.608313

Filename

608313