Non-Ionizing Radiation measurements in hospital environments

As a first step toward the objective of the Technological Development Project called Optimization and Control of Non-Ionizing Radiation (NIR) [1] we measured-for different bands of the radio-electrical spectrum-the various levels of electric field detected at the Corrientes Institute of Cardiology. This campaign aims to defining the measuring parameters (frequency, power density levels, periodicity of the signal, among others) to be detected and stored as useful information. The collected data will be processed and used as reference for the development of a device for continuous and autonomous monitoring within the bands previously selected from this study [1], [2]. Of particular interest to this project is the increase of wireless systems associated to apparatus frequently used in a hospital setting such as the Corrientes Institute of Cardiology, a regional and national reference hospital for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In this health care center numerous medical instruments used for diagnosis or treatment are found, and among them, internal pacemakers and physiological signals monitors with wireless connectivity in the UHF band and the latest 2.4 GHz. The diversity and quality of the instrumentation added to the electrical susceptibility of the cardiac patient make this a potentially vulnerable environment in relation to the NIR levels found.