Re: What Happened to Me

Interesting. I recently had to visit my ailing grandmother in the

> ntensive care unit of a local hospital. No warnings about cell phones
> and in fact saw staff use them.
> So I'd say yes, we can use our cell phones in hospitals.

It varies. One hospital where I spent a lot of time a few years ago (as a visitor, not a patient) banned all cell phone use anywhere in the building. I got in trouble on my first visit. There was a big sign with a "no cell phone" symbol on the door between the ER waiting room and the actual ER. I assumed it meant no cellphones beyond that point, and was sitting in the waiting room yakking on my phone (telling somebody else what little I knew about the patient), and was told to take it outside. I hated to be one of those obnoxious cellphone jerks who thinks rules don't apply to him, but the sign's location really was confusing.

The official rule was that ALL cellphones had to be TURNED OFF anywhere in the building. I'm sure there was no way to strictly enforce it, and I'm not sure what they did about doctors.

Since that time, the hospital has proudly announced their new Vocera system for staff communications:

It's voice over wireless IP, with all kinds of bells and whistles. Slicker than hog snot. Staff carry little badge-size communicators that allow them to get in touch with others. I assume it doesn't use standard cellular frequencies. I don't know whether it uses the same band as standard wireless IP, or whether there's some reason to believe that whatever it uses is less likely to interefere with medical equipment than cellular traffic.

On a more recent, work-related visit to the same hospital (it's owned by my employer), I needed a network connection to the outside world. Plugging a laptop into an open port on an ethernet switch we found in a closet didn't work; they had a very strict firewall. The laptop said it was picking up a wifi signal, but was unable to establish a connection. I don't know whether it was seeing the Vocera system, or whether they also had a standard WiFi system for data IP.