Effect of electromagnetic radiations on the functioning of medical devices from wireless local area networks — A review

In order to improve the quality of healthcare delivery, hospitals are employing radio services such as, Wireless Fidelity, RFID and Personal Handheld Systems (PHS). Among the several WLANs technologies available, IEEE 802.11 WLAN becomes prominent since it offers wide coverage, higher bandwidth, higher speed and flexibility in installation and scalability. There are several WLAN devices are available in IEEE 802.11 standards for this purpose. These devices work at several frequencies and most of them operate in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical band. Similar to the concerns about electromagnetic interference between cellular phones and medical devices, there are some studies analyzed the interaction between Wi-Fi devices and medical devices. Studies have proved that the usage of Wi-Fi devices in healthcare is not detrimental to the functioning of medical devices concerned. This paper reviews the some of the studies undertaken with respect to electromagnetic interference between Wi-Fi devices and medical equipments.