Cell Phones

[kitkatz]

If I could remember to take the damned phone with me most of the time it would be good!

[Deanne]

Use a hands-free unit and pretend you're talking to yourself!

[MattyBoy100]

We have to switch off phones in my unit too.  I know a lot of you think it is all bs etc but let me tell you something.  I have to wear two hearing aids and if you sit near me with a phone on it causes my hearing aids to go bezerk with all the buzzing that comes from the phone.  It is the same if I sit next to or too close to a tv, stereo speakers, a wi - fi PC/Laptop or even if I walk through an electronic sensor that they have in shops.

So you can all dismiss it as much as you like but me, I can hear the inteference and ALWAYS switch my phone off.

[jedimaster]

At my clinic they allow them no problem. I use mine at home also and so far no problem....

[livecam]

Older portable analog cellphones had a fair amount of transmitter output power, on the order of 600 milliwatts or .6 watt.  The potential to cause problems was exacerbated by that and the fact that an analog device maintains that amount of power essentially constantly during a call.

Newer PCS digital phones operate at much lower power and higher frequencies and have the ability to reduce power so that only enough power to talk to the cell site is being used.

A cellphone running low power isn't going to spark anything in a gas station.  A mobile radio at 50 or 100 watts might.  That kind of power can be rectified by dissimiliar metals that contact each other or a metallic object that is resonant at the frequency of the radio.  Such an object makes an excellent antenna.

Test the cellphone during a call near your machine, if the machine doesn't alarm or act odd in another way you are probably ok.

[Adam_W]

My centre has no rule against using cell phones, and I use mine all the time. On a related note, I visited a friend in another town a week ago, and did my Saturday treatment at a FMC clinic there. My friend wanted to stay with me during the treatment and talk to help me pass the time, but this particular centre didn't allow visitors in the treatment room. The do allow cell phones, however, so my friend just sat in the waiting room for four hours, and we talked to each other "through the wall" on our cell phones. Take care.

Adam

[goofynina]

I have been to 3 centers while doing dialysis and i never had a problem with them allowing visitors,  was he underage?   that would be the only reason someone wouldnt be able to be a visitor in the clinics i was in.  Well, glad you at least had your cell phones. 

[Chicken Little]

In my center, visitors have to leave when any patient is being connected or removed from the machine, which is pretty much all the time.   There are a couple wives that diligently trot in and out of the room so they can hold their hubby's hand though their treatment.  It's kinda cute. 

I only IM and use the internet on my PDA when I'm stuck in the chair.  I don't want to listen to other people talking on their phone and I assume others feel the same. 

[jbeany]

No cell phones allowed in my unit - at least officially.  One of the patients uses his all the time - he tends to hike his blanket up around his head and tries to keep the phone hidden.     Mine is always on now when I'm in center - it's the number I gave to my transplant coordinater.  Besides her, only my family members have the number, and they know not to call me on it when I'm at the center.

I got a wrong number on it the other day while I was hooked up.  It about scared me right out of my chair!

[Rerun]

My centre has no rule against using cell phones, and I use mine all the time. On a related note, I visited a friend in another town a week ago, and did my Saturday treatment at a FMC clinic there. My friend wanted to stay with me during the treatment and talk to help me pass the time, but this particular centre didn't allow visitors in the treatment room. The do allow cell phones, however, so my friend just sat in the waiting room for four hours, and we talked to each other "through the wall" on our cell phones. Take care.

Adam

That is so ridiculous!  How is anyone going to want to donate if they don't see what we go through!  How can some clinics claim it is a health issue and others allow people in.  I think it is a power play just like not getting you a drink when you need it.  They act as if we WANT to do this and are at their mercy for their help.  THEY are PAID to do this.

[George Jung]

I think it is a power play just like not getting you a drink when you need it. 

YEP.

[thegrammalady]

My center has no rule against using cell phones, and I use mine all the time. On a related note, I visited a friend in another town a week ago, and did my Saturday treatment at a FM clinic there. My friend wanted to stay with me during the treatment and talk to help me pass the time, but this particular center didn't allow visitors in the treatment room. The do allow cell phones, however, so my friend just sat in the waiting room for four hours, and we talked to each other "through the wall" on our cell phones. Take care.

Adam

it seems that all fmc centers are not created equal....my centers allows cell phones and visitors. one gentlemans entire family (it appears) comes every time, each one stays about 30 minutes and they keep trading off. if you want to get techincal about it your doctor is a visitor. i'd like to see any center try to keep them out

[Hawkeye]

it seems that all fmc centers are not created equal....my centers allows cell phones and visitors. one gentlemans entire family (it appears) comes every time, each one stays about 30 minutes and they keep trading off. if you want to get technical about it your doctor is a visitor. I'd like to see any center try to keep them out

All Fresenius clinics have the same policies and procedure as each other all across the US.  It all depends on how they actually enforce those policies that differs.  I found something that I can post since it is found on a public FMC website regarding cell phone use that backs up my previous posts here on the topic. Unfortunately it has been password protected so I cant copy and paste it here or into a word file to try and post all I can post is the web address.

www.fmcna.com/fusa/fieldbulletins/03fhk005.pdf

FOR ANYONE WHO LOOKED AT THIS AND FOUND IT WAS BLOOD PUMP ERROR MESSAGES THE LINK HAS BEEN FIXED!!!

[bdpoe]

I work as an equipment technician for a Fresenius clinic so I can help out on this one.  The no cell phone thing is out there for a few reasons.  The second reason is to help keep the noise down on the floor.  Your stuck there for several hours, do you really want to be forced to be sitting next to someone on the phone.  I find that really annoying in the clinic and other places like the train.  Hope this helps.

I really hate sitting next to some chatterbox talking for hours on the cell phone. I dont want to hear their
personal conversation. A short call kept low I can accept. Nurses and techs should keep their cell phones on
vibrate only and keep conversations to a minimum.

Gee it seems that some Nurses forget everything they learned in nursing school. Seems there is not enough time to read your chart, pay attention to your particular needs but plenty of time to gossip and make phone calls.

Of course many nurses are imported from over seas so lord knows what they were taught.

...bdpoe/Orlando

[TynyOne]

Could someone if there is a difference in Davita units and the Frensius units?   I believe I go to a Frensius but I was unsure if they were same thing basically?  One more thing, we are allowed to use cell phones at my unit.  Thanks in advance for anyone's response.  Have a happy little day!

Tammy

[Hawkeye]

Could someone if there is a difference in Davita units and the Frensius units?   I believe I go to a Frensius but I was unsure if they were same thing basically?  One more thing, we are allowed to use cell phones at my unit.  Thanks in advance for anyone's response.  Have a happy little day!
Tammy

Davita and Fresenius are both Dialysis providers, but VERY different companies.

[karen547]

I bring my laptop to treatment and I use my cell phone. I would go NUTS without either, it gets so boring at times.

[okarol]

I just came across this article from Time Magazine last year, but hadn't seen it before:

Thursday, Sep. 06, 2007
Cell Phones in Hospitals: Bad Rx
By Coco Masters

A new Dutch study on mobile phone signals finds that using a cell phone in restricted areas, such as hospitals, can be dangerous. In the study, published Wednesday in the online journal Critical Care, researchers measured the impact of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from cell phone use on hospital equipment such as ventilators and pacemakers. Signals that were equal in strength to those given off by second- and third-generation mobile phones significantly interfered with medical devices, and the study's authors categorized 75% of those incidents as "hazardous," meaning that the interference had a direct impact on patient health, or "significant," indicating that it distracted health care providers. Hazardous incidents included the sudden switching off or restarting of machines — which could mean disruption of a patient's feeding tube, ventilator, pacemaker or dialysis machine — and most events occurred when mobile phones were within 3 cm of critical-care equipment.

Dr. Erik van Lieshout, a critical-care physician at the University of Amsterdam's Academic Medical Center, and his team were prompted to begin their study last year, when they wanted to use 3G mobile phone technology to monitor mobile intensive care units remotely. They asked a Dutch telecom company if it would be safe to use UTMS, or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, technology — which, like W-CDMA in the U.S., facilitates data transfer — near medical devices. The company didn't know. So van Lieshout and his colleagues decided to evaluate the impact of cell signals themselves; they tested the signals' effect on 61 medical devices and found that 26 (or 43%) were disrupted by EMI. Most incidents were caused by a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) signal, a mobile data service that handles heavy-duty data transfer in international GSM networks, used by companies such as Cingular/AT&T and T-Mobile.

First-generation cell phones handled only voice data, but subsequent generations have tacked on technology that allows data transmission, which uses more electricity than older phones — it's that extra juice that researchers think interferes with medical devices. Though cell phone technology differs in the U.S., Europe and Asia, the study's authors say that, in general, 10% of medical devices experience interference from second-generation mobile phones, and that while critical incidents are rare they are "potentially lethal and...are not recognized as such."

In their research, van Lieshout and colleagues generated maximum mobile phone power signals with a signal generator, rather than with actual phones, in order to achieve results that could be replicated in other studies. Mobile phones use more power in low-coverage areas or when they're far from a cell tower; with greater coverage and close proximity to a tower, phones use less power. "It's possible that in many hospitals there is low coverage because of the concrete in the building, and it's possible that your mobile phone is transmitting like hell to get in contact with the base station," says van Lieshout. His research team proposes the one-meter rule, which recommends that mobile phones be used more than three feet from medical equipment — or not at all in patient areas, if possible.

All hospitals have restrictions on where mobiles can be used. In the U.S., those guidelines are recommended by the Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Devices and Radiological Health. But van Lieshout says the reality is that "some doctors violate the rules, and there's an increase in the use of cell phones so it's hard to control." Rick Wade, senior vice president of the American Hospital Association, says that hospitals follow recommendations but set their own policies. He agrees that the official rules "don't deter anybody. Three feet is not an enormous amount of space," he says.

That's why van Lieshout wants hospital equipment, such as ventilators and monitors, to be tested and certified as mobile-phone proof. "It's not up to the hospital to test all the equipment," he says, "it should be done by the company."

Another solution might be to minimize the power output of mobile phones altogether by adding an antenna to the hospital to boost internal signal strength, a system that CellAntenna Corp. has installed in several U.S. hospitals. "The barrier to that for hospitals would be cost," says Wade. "Hospitals are investing a lot and my sense is that cell phone towers would not be at the top of the list."

But the question is, given all the variability in signal strength and cell phone use outside the laboratory, do phones pose a real-world threat? Not really, according to a study published in March in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, which found that "normal" cell phone use did not interact with medical devices. That study has a Mayo Clinic committee rethinking the clinic's current mobile phone policy, which is to ban phones from areas in which invasive procedures are being done, according to Jeffrey Tri, an electrical engineer and an author of the study. Tri says that the Dutch study used a signal strength of two watts, which, to his knowledge, is at least three times more power than any U.S. cell phone would emit. According to Tri, U.S. cell phones usually fall below the 600-milliwatt output level, and some are even capped at 250 milliwatts. "We think the value of [cell phone] technology really outweighs the disadvantages and we really couldn't find causes of concern to not change the policy," says Tri. "Our goal is to allow cell phone use everywhere but in pediatric and neonatal intensive care units and surgery because we have not done testing in those areas."

More studies need to be done on the effects of mobile phone use on medical equipment. In the meantime, if not for the sake of technical interference, think about the other reasons people don't yap away on their mobiles in critical areas. "We've all been around people who use cell phones," says Wade. "There is a line you draw — and you have to."

    * http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1659417,00.html

[paddbear0000]

"most events occurred when mobile phones were within 3 cm of critical-care equipment."

3cm?! You'd have to have the phone and your head pressed up against the machine in order to cause a problem then! Who gets that close?!

[Razman]

"most events occurred when mobile phones were within 3 cm of critical-care equipment."

   But the hospital and staff forget to read that part !!!   They are just protecting themselves.  They don't want anything to happen and then have someone use the phones as an excuse to sue them.

[Jess21]

**imagines someone on top of the dialysis machine, with either 2 15 gauge needles coming out of their arm or tubes coming out of their cath**  I think if the person got 3 cm away without the machines going off first, they deserve to talk on the phone. LOL
My center has a no cell phone rule, yet people stlil talk on them.  One even puts it on speaker to talk to whoever.  Yup.  I use mine to text and to call my mom if she's picking me up.  That's it.  Actually the other day my phone went off when I was holding my arm and the PCT asked if I wanted him to hold my arm so I could answer, so I guess they aren't too picky.  But they do have a strict "No food" rule cause people were getting cramps.  My center also doesn't allow visitors when people arer going on/off, yet I haven't ever seen anyone STAY in there during anyone's treatment

[conkling86]

I am at FMC clinic in Alabama we use the FMC K2's and I have never ever been told that we can not use cellphones I know one other patient is on his phone most of his treatment and like many other posters have said the staff at my clinic is regularly on their cellphones as well

[RichardMEL]

I still don't get the no food rule because people cramped? what the...

[kitkatz]

If the one guy who talks all night on his cell phone does not quiet down,  I am going to stuff a pillow down him and his cell phone! He talks right at that volume level where you can hear the drone but not the conversation!  I hate that volume level!

[Stacy Without An E]

If they enforced a new rule at my center that prohibied cell phones, I would celebrate.

This one guy comes in with his father and stays with him for the entire three hours.  The problem is, he likes to walk around the clinic yelling on his cell phone.  Repeatedly I have to ask the staff to tell him to go outside because he's disturbing patients.

This other guy likes to use his speakerphone on his cell phone so everyone can hear how important he is.

Still another likes to spend the entire three hours making his Playa Phone Calls.

"Yeah, baby.  Mmm-hmm.  You sound so juicy.  No, I ain't sick.  I'm just chilling.  Chillaxin' atually.  What you doin' later?  Come on baby, I'm the man.  No, there ain't no other ladies.  Just you baby.  Mmm-hmm."

Non-stop.  For three hours.  In the chair next to me.  Ugh.

Manners and common courtesy are dying a quick, painful death in this country.