Maintaining Temperature For Medical Storage

By Author: Charlie McCoy
Total Articles: 15
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Precise temperature monitoring of refrigerators, freezers and warmers is essential to assure patient safety and to remain compliant to medication management standards and avoid potentially expensive product loss.
The Joint Commission’s MM.03.01.01 – medication storage standard is a significant statistic to consider the potential patient risks and facility expense at stake. One third of the hospitals receive non compliance scores when surveyed on this parameter. Manual recording of refrigeration temperatures on paper has the chances of being skipped or is usually done once or twice a day. Whereas, automated temperature monitoring systems are easy to use and customizable, allowing the hospital authorities to monitor and document a range of information such as temperate, pressure, humidity and other important measures, depending on the sensor employed in the system. Once the user log in, he can view the refrigerator groups and their current status and having snapshots of which refrigerator system is in tune and which one is out or range. The system displays the data points collected over a period of time like ...
... the previous week or month. The user can select any unit and these time periods can be adjusted as needed. The whole system can also generate collective reports on one unit or all the units stacked to the system. The system can also print and export the reports and can even send warning signs like low battery, warnings to prevent power interruption or fluctuations in the temperature of the system from the desired point. These alert notifications can also be tailored to suit specific requirements. The user can set the parameters and designate the alert methods to be used like beeps, alarms or telephonic messages etc.
These wireless monitoring systems can record temperatures at configurable intervals to assure medications are stored at appropriate temperatures and the whole systems is working properly. This feature is useful in maintaining regulatory compliance, particularly when clinics are closed and members are not available to check and record temperatures consistently.
Since all the equipment and medications in the hospital are quite costly, these wireless temperature monitoring systems can act as insurance against costly medication loss due to any mechanical failure. While a normal thermometer would be just sufficient enough to propose the end of range according to the parameters set, it can’t indicate the length of time for which the unit was out of range, but the temperature monitoring system can. No doubt there are some medications that can bear the rising temperature for some time, but that isn’t the case with all. In that case they will be destroyed under extreme temperatures. With an automated system, considerable financial loss is prevented. And with wi fi technology as imparted in certain systems, one can even alter the commands from remote areas, thereby shooting down, lots of inconvenience and expenses.
And last but not the least, the valuable information gained from the temp monitor system not only help to identify low performing refrigeration, freezer or warmer units when considering their replacement but will also offer additional justification for upgrading non medical grade refrigerators to medical grade unite, thereby improving medication safety and patient care.
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