Electrical safety in the hospital—1974

Abstract

The topic of electrical safety in the hospital has been of considerable interest since it covered that certain catheterized patients can be accidentally electrocuted by currents well below the perceivable level. Prompted by a safety scare that began in 1969, hospitals and manufacturers of medical equipment have since become safety conscious and have taken steps to effectively reduce the safety hazard to both patients and hospital staff. This paper is intended to provide the reader with a basic understanding of electrical safety problems in the hospital. The phisiological effects of electricity in the body, electrical safety hazards in the hospital and methods of protecting patients from both macroshock and microshock hazards are described and discussed. The paper concludes with recommendations for a relatively inexpensive, but effective and up-to-date electrical safety program for the hospital.