TITLE:
Study of Electromagnetic Compatibility in Hospital Environments
AUTHORS:
Oscar Gutiérrez, Miguel Ángel Navarro, Francisco Saez de Adana, Adolfo Escobar, María E. Moncada, Claudio Marcelo Muñoz
KEYWORDS:
Electromagnetic Compatibility, Radiated Emissions, Magnetic Field Measurements, Electric Field Measurements
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Electromagnetic Analysis and Applications,
Vol.6 No.7,
June
23,
2014
ABSTRACT: This
paper presents a study on the effects of radiation from electronic equipment in
hospitals. This study was performed in Argentinean, Colombian and Spanish
hospitals. The work consists of two parts: a survey to determine the hospital
personnel’s knowledge of the problem and a technical part consisting of a
measurements campaign to determine the levels of radiated electrical and
magnetic fields in several hospitals due to the presence of electromagnetic
interferences, such as the use of mobile phones. The study of this problem has
been of special interest in countries such as the USA and Canada, and this
paper attempts to convey the necessity of creating regulations that can be
applied to the hospitals of the countries analyzed. More than fifty hospitals
were studied in these three countries, considering the following aspects: the
hospital personnel’s awareness of the problem, whether the hospitals have
performed previous studies of this type, the appearance of problems in medical
equipment due to this interference, the origin of the interference, and the
failures that have appeared in computers due to electromagnetic interference.
The results show that, most hospitals have a lack of knowledge regarding this
issue and that field levels above those allowed by international regulations
are present. Therefore, a regulation must be established to avoid the problem.