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I am trying to get information on Bluetooth connections.

I saw a doctor today leave has mobile phone at the nurse station in ITU, but keep on his headset. I do not know anything about Bluetooth connection or if could cause problems to medical device.

Has anybody done research or had problems with Bluetooth interfering with medical devices.

A.M

Doctors seem to do what they want anyway. I've given up asking people to switch their phones off. Not worth the hassle and abuse

In most hospitals (that have them) wireless networks are allowed as it has been shown that it does not interfere with medical devices.
Blutooth runs at a similar power to these wireless LAN units so one can assume that they too do not interfere.
I cannot quote a definite reference on this but I know several hospitals have done their own tests, may be one of them is reading this and can help.
Robert

Bluetooth shares the same band as 2.4GHz wireless networking, but has a much shorter range about 10 meters (and lower power, sorry to contradict RoJo)

There has been no evidence of interference with medical equipment at these ultra high frequencies. Some equipment for example the Propaq monitor can have 2.4GHz wireless network cards internally.

Chilly

To expand on my own post, the reason that mobile phones `can` cause problems with medical equipment is not due to their carrier frequency that is normally 900MHz or 1800MHz. But is due to the time division multiplexing that they use. Generally a mobile phone only generates a carrier at a 1:8 mark space, and it is this frequency that causes the interference. Also the mobile phone base stations that are sited on hospital roofs are continuous wave, but at any one frequency talking to 8 handsets.

Chilly

We took a spectrum analysers to a hospital to investigate a problem.
I would not personaly worry too much about mobile phones, but the two way radio things the porters carry round were generating a massive reading greater than 60dB.
The EMC standard that equipment is tested to, is a bit misleading, as this tests each individual frequency one at a time, and the test is not valid for more than one frequency, so if you have a wireless network, porters and mobile phones that is three sources that are known, there could be others that you don’t know about!

We could pick out a mobile phone mast, the porters two-way radios, a large unknown signal at 160Mhz and the nurses DECT cordless phone.

I would say, at least the doctor left his phone at the nurses station!!!

160MHz sound like the hospital pagers.

And as you say its the porters radio's that are the biggest problem.

Chilly

Just one point that may be of note; it's been mentioned that Bluetooth and Wireless LANs are allowed in hospitals, as they don't cause much interference with medical equipment.
They can, however, interfere with each other; there's a wealth of articles on the web about bluetooth and WLANs to IEEE 802.11 causing interference to one another.
This might only become a problem if both end up being used for medical-device-monitoring related applications.

Nonin 4000 Avant pulse oximeter uses Bluetooth to connect between monitor and finger probe!