Medical Telemetry Frequency Bands: How Should Hospitals Approach their Decision On Which Band to Use?

Hospitals should migrate as soon as possible from traditional telemetry frequency bands to either the WMTS (dedicated, primary status) or the ISM (non-dedicated, secondary status) band. Hospitals in urban areas are more likely to see interference from HDTV and mobile radios sooner than suburban or rural hospitals. WMTS has protection from intentional interference, while the ISM band has more bandwidth and flexibility in the type of data that can be transmitted. Both frequency bands have trade-offs that must be evaluated on a site-specific basis. An institutional decision to combine medical telemetry with other patient-related communication (ISM) or to separate medical telemetry from other patient-related communication (WMTS) can be one of the factors hospital planners use in deciding which band to use for wireless medical telemetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]