Biomedical and Laboratory Wireless Refrigeration Monitoring

Utilizing cold storage best practices will empower biomedical and laboratory facilities to ensure refrigerated inventory is compliant while providing advance notification prior to a system breakdown.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guidelines mandate cold chain management. Proper storage of medical inventory is critical because any loss of potency may negatively affect safety and efficacy and compromise biomed and laboratory research results.

Not maintaining proper temperatures and the resulting excursions are the most common cause of the degradation of biomed and lab inventory. For example, a vaccine can survive higher temperatures for a minimal period of time and still be deemed safe, but its lifespan may be shortened. Refrigerated vaccines are more susceptible to damage when temperatures dip below freezing. Refrigerators need to be carefully monitored to ensure that all biomed and lab inventory is kept within appropriate temperature ranges.

The Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)) does not specifically require temperature logs for freezers and refrigerators, but it does stipulate that inventory be stored according to the manufacturer’s recommendations and that facilities maintain and monitor equipment performance.

Facilities must track temperatures on a regular basis and a process must be implemented for disposing of medication that no longer meets the recommended temperature ranges.

There are different methods with which to measure temperature inside a refrigerator or freezer in biomed and lab environments. Thermometers are the most basic. OneEvent’s sensors measure temperature and connect wirelessly to a OneEvent Gateway that continually displays and records the temperature readings.

According to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit, thermometers used to monitor vaccine temperature should be:

• Equipped with a remote probe and suitable for the temperature range of the application
• Submerged in glycol or glass beads
• Calibrated with a Certificate of Traceability

CDC recommendations include the use of data-loggers (DDL) in certain biomed and lab applications including:

• Digital display on the outside of the storage unit for reading temperatures without opening the door
• Detachable
• Probe in a bottle filled with a thermal buffer, like glycol, which more closely reflects vaccine temperatures; vaccine temperatures have been found to be more thermo-stable than air temperature, which fluctuates with defrost cycles and opening and closing of the unit door
• Alert for out-of-range temperatures
• Accuracy to within ±1 °F (±5 °C)
• Low-battery indicator
• Continuous monitoring and recording capabilities to track and record temperatures over time
• Display of current, minimum and maximum temperatures, which indicate the coldest and warmest temperatures recorded since the device was reset.

The OneEvent® application can also support other needs for life sciences and clinical research environments including room temperature, humidity, motion, door open/close, carbon monoxide and flood/water detection.