If you are a perfusionist helping to perform a cardiopulmonary bypass, we ask you to take a moment to post a comment here about the following study:
“2010 Survey on cell phone use while performing cardiopulmonary bypass,” T Smith, E Darling, B Searles, Perfusion, September 2011 vol. 26 no. 5 375-380. The authors, at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY, report:
“In professions such as perfusion, where clinical vigilance is essential to patient care, the potential distraction of cell phones may be especially problematic…. The use of a cell phone during the performance of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was reported by 55.6% of perfusionists. Sending text messages while performing CPB was acknowledged by 49.2%… perfusionists report having accessed e-mail (21%), used the internet (15.1%), or have checked/posted on social networking sites (3.1%) while performing CPB.
“Safety concerns were expressed by 78.3% who believe that cell phones can introduce a potentially significant safety risk to patients.”
[HT New York Times]