Radio-Wave Devices May Interfere with Hospital ICU Equipment

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Radio-Wave Devices May Interfere with Hospital ICU Equipment

©istockphoto.com/Andrei Malov

Dutch researchers wanted to find out how radio-frequency devices might affect hospital equipment. In almost 20% of their tests, electromagnetic interference from RFID devices interfered with medical equipment, in some cases shutting down life-saving machinery.

ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE? Hospitals use radio frequency chips for anything from tracking inventory to reading a patients' medical history. A new Dutch study suggests that these chips may cause electromagnetic interference with vital medical equipment, causing devices such as respirators to malfunction and even shut off in some cases.

by Mike Maxwell
Informify Staff Writer
June 26, 2008

The medical system's growing dependence on radio frequency identification (RFID) devices worry some doctors who feel we don't yet know enough about the technology. Meanwhile, the health care industry spends about $90 million every year on RFID.

Radio Frequency Identification: What is it?

An RFID tag is a tiny chip that can be attached to or implanted in people, products and animals. It sends radio-wave signals that can be tracked up to 9 or 10 feet.

It's a different technology than UPC barcodes, and doesn't need actual contact or direct line of sight to communicate between the reading device and the chip. In fact, RFID reading devices can read data through clothing, our bodies and other nonmetallic materials.

We use RFID devices in our everyday lives, including:

electronic toll collection cards
security access cards to get into buildings
antitheft clips in clothes from retail stores
hotel room key cards
microchips implanted in dogs and cats to find runaway pets

The U.S. health care industry uses RFID as well, and spends about $90 million every year on the following:

verifying patients' medical histories while in emergency rooms
keeping track of medical supply inventory
marking drug blister packs to prevent theft and replacement
monitoring blood products' temperature and quality
tracking surgical sponges during surgery
following a patient's digestive patterns through endoscopic capsules

Since the RFID tags are getting smaller and the price is shrinking too, the medical industry is finding more ways to use RFID tags. It expects spending to grow to $2 billion—more than 220%—in 10 years.

Some doctors, however, caution that we don't yet know enough about RFID technology to safely use it, especially in the medical field.

Can RIFD Interfere with Hospital Equipment and Harm Patients?

Researchers have known for a while that some RFID devices, like antitheft surveillance systems, cause electromagnetic inference with pacemakers and defibrillators. But they weren't sure how they might affect medical devices in hospitals.

A recent study suggests that RFID may interfere with critical care medical equipment, causing them to malfunction or shut down completely.

Remko van der Togt and colleagues at the Vrije University in Amsterdam wanted to see how medical devices responded to electromagnetic interference from RFID tags. They simulated an intensive care unit room (without a patient) and tested 41 medical devices that they moved around the room, including...

anesthesia devices
defibrillators
dialysis devices
external pacemakers
infusion/syringe pumps
mechanical ventilators
vital signs monitors

Of the 123 tests they conducted, researchers labeled results on 22 "hazardous," on 2 "significant," and on 10 "light." Some of the results included...

mechanical ventilators—switched off or changed respiration rate
IV syringe pumps—stopped pumping
external pacemakers—malfunctioned
dialysis machines—shut down
blood pressure reader—gave wrong reading

"This ought to teach us a lesson about technologies in medicine in general," said Dr. Donald M. Berwick, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, Mass.

"Anything new is going to introduce both good news and bad news. There will always be consequences. We have a love affair with technology, and that's a little bit dangerous if we're not keeping our eyes wide open." (U.S. World & News Report, 6/24/08)

Question for Readers:

Would you consider being "chipped" with an RFID tag that contains vital information about your medical history, which could possibly save your life in an emergency situation?

Remko van der Togt and colleagues at the Vrije University in Amsterdam conducted a study to see how medical devices responded to electromagnetic interference from radio frequency identification devices.

The Dutch researchers said two important lessons can be learned from their study:

"Design in isolation is risky; even the most seductive technology will interact in the tightly coupled health care world in ways physicians and other members of the health care team had better understand, or they and their patients may pay a dear price.
"No matter how good the design, in the end the battle for high safety and reliability in health care is never won. Safety is not a condition, it is a process. It can only emerge continually in a culture that is alert, cooperative, transparent, and resilient when the unexpected happens, as it always will." (ScienceDaily, 6/25/08)

In other words, they recommend hospitals test for electromagnetic interference from RFID devices to make sure they don't affect life-saving equipment.

Radio Frequency Identification chips, such as this one, can be used for anything from paying your highway toll or finding a lost pet by sending a short-distance radio signal. The medical industry uses RFID technology in more ways now than ever, which helps many doctors but worries some.

These [RFID devices] are brought in for a reason, and are doing things for the good. Just to shut them down would be overreacting. Let's get serious about finding out whether this is a replicable finding, and if it occurs in the presence of real patients. I believe food and drug administrations and manufacturers have a duty to investigate, and I'd say urgently.