EMF in Hospitals

Operating Room

EKG Machine

With the increase in the utilization of microprocessor-based diagnostic, therapeutic, and patient monitoring equipment within hospitals, corresponding increases in failure rates of these devices from interfering radio frequency (RF) sources have been noted. There are many sources of RF in hospitals including radio paging transmitters, walkie-talkie units used by maintenance and security personnel, TV sets, Cellular phones, etc. RF signals from these devices can cause catastrophic interference with critical care patient wireless telemetry monitoring systems, ultra sound and other imaging equipment.

Open MRI

Medical devices known to be sensitive to AC magnetic fields include EEG/EKG/ECG equipment and other devices utilizing sensitive bio-electric sensors. Certain implanted medical devices, including insulin delivery systems and pacemakers, are also sensitive to environmental AC magnetic fields. A wide range of diagnostic medical imaging systems including MRI and Ultra Sound equipment can often be susceptible to interference from elevated AC magnetic field levels.

When MRI or NMR equipment is installed in a pre-existing facility, monitoring devices in adjacent areas may suffer from their proximity to the imaging magnet. Because the source equipment may not be visible, image distortion is incorrectly attributed to a power quality problems, power supplies, incompatible video cards, nearby power lines or other sources when, in fact, DC magnetic fields from the MRI or NMR are the culprit.

FMS has solved numerous EMI problems in hospitals, clinics, research centers and pharmaceutical companies.