Correct storage temperatures play a vital role in emergency services.
Many first-responder services such as the Red Cross, the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund, the Malteser Hilfsdienst, the German Technical Relief Agency (THW), the fire service and others keep blood supplies and medicines in stock.
Medicines, serums and many more are required to stay within specified temperature ranges, as they can otherwise lose their effectiveness, without this being apparent from visual inspection.
What do emergency services need to monitor?
As a rule, non-refrigerated drugs must be kept at temperatures between +15°C and +25°C, medicines ‘requiring refrigeration’ at temperatures between +2°C to +8°C. Erythrocyte concentrates (stored blood) must be kept between +2°C and +6°C and plasma products below -30°C.
In many facilities, refrigerated goods worth several thousand euros can easily accumulate. Thus, goods which need to be discarded due to incorrect storage may cause painful financial consequences.
Whether in the medicine cabinet or in the refrigerator/freezer, recording and monitoring temperatures is an elementary link in quality control for emergency services.
What to look out for?
The minimum requirement for monitoring temperatures is the use of a Min/Max thermometer, which displays the respective minimum and maximum temperatures between two manual checks. However, such a Min/Max thermometer also bears its risks and inconveniences.
For one, the thermometer must be read consistently each day and the results recorded in a form, which must be maintained and archived. In addition, the staff in charge of the recording must be reliable and trustworthy.
The principle disadvantage of a Min/Max thermometer, however, is the inability to send out a reliable alarm in the case of threshold violation (preferably before any damage occurred)!
How do I check if in my service the required temperatures are maintained?
Nothing easier than that. The SenseAnywhere monitoring system allows you to keep on top of the temperatures in your service. The system is easy to install and extremely intuitive to use. Keep track of the continuously recorded data at a glance - on site, at home or even while on the road. Configure temperature thresholds and get warned on the PC, by e-mail or SMS if these thresholds are violated - this is the only way to avoid damage before it occurs. On request, the system creates fully automatic reports for documentation and possible submission to inspectors.
And the best thing is... ...it doesn’t generate any extra work for you! Position the Sensor Modules where they need to monitor conditions, and after a simple and quick set-up phase, the monitoring system runs completely automatic and reliable - only drawing your attention when you need to step in.
