Radio frequency identification devices (RIFD) could pose a serious threat to critical care medical equipment, due to electromagnetic interference. No injuries have been reported so far, but RFID were shown to have a real potential for triggering hazardous incidents.

The electromagnetic interference from radio frequency identification devices (RIFD) in critical care medical equipment could trigger hazardous incidents, a study published in the Journal of American Medical Association warned.

Despite the fact that there have been no reports of injuries in any of the hospitals that use RFID systems, test results have shown that RFID are capable of inducing potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices.

The study was co-authored by Dutch scientists Remko van der Togt from the Spatial Information Laboratory, Institute of Environmental Studies in Amsterdam, Erik Jan van Lieshout from the Department of Intensive Care and Mobile Intensive Care Unit and four other colleagues.

The purpose of the study was to assess and classify the incidents of EMI (electromagnetic interference) by RFID on critical care medical equipment.

RFID have been used to improve patient safety and for tracking and tracing medical equipment.

Although EMI by RFID has never been reported, the Dutch Ministry of Health initiated a project entitled “RFID in Health Care,” with the purpose of supervising the use of RFID in medical equipments used in operation rooms, the intensive care unit (ICU) and the blood transfusion lab at the University of Amsterdam.

In May 2006, EMI by 2 RFID systems (active 125 kHz and passive 868 MHz) were identified in the proximity of 41 medical devices (from different categories, and produced by different manufacturers) at the Academic Medical Center in the University of Amsterdam.

During the 123 tests, 22 of the EMI incidents were found to be hazardous, 2 were considered to be significant, and 10 were classified as light.

Among the RFID, the passive 868-MHz one was responsible for a higher number of incidents (63 percent), while the active 125 kHz was responsible for 8 incidents in 41 EMI tests (20 percent). The distance between the RFID reader and the medical device was 30 cm, researchers said.

Medical devices such as defibrillators, infusion pumps, ventilators, fluid warmers and pacemaker programmers, coming from different manufacturers, were used in the tests. No patients were involved in the testing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is also working on evaluating the impact of RFID on medical equipment, in order to establish whether patients are ever at risk when using the devices.