Electrical Requirements of Medical Equipment

The requirements needed to ensure the safety of electrical medical devices are far more stringent than those of their counterparts. According to documents sourced from the International Electrotechnical Commission (EIC) in Geneva, Switzerland, there are three specific reasons for the increased precaution.

1.Any form of contact with the device may be directly to the internal tissue that can conduct electricity well (e.g natural breaks in the skin).

2.The patient may be connected conductively to electronic circuitry (e.g. ECG monitoring).

3.The patient may be connected to several medical devices simultaneously such as when one is confined in the intensive care unit.

In contrast to other standards, electrical safety is not considered to be solely dependent on voltage, but on leakage currents. This is because even a very low voltage, when applied to areas like the internal tissue, can cause harmful leakage currents that might seep through other parts of the body.