Cold Chain Temperature Monitoring: Affordable, Intuitive and Simple to Deploy
If you’re looking for a cloud-based temperature monitoring system that helps your team eliminate manual logging, improve compliance readiness and protect all your temperature sensitive assets, you’ve arrived at the right place.
Some of the finest names in healthcare, food service, construction and logistics, including Indiana University Health, University of Michigan Health System and Stanford University, rely on Sonicu to provide robust continuous temperature monitoring for their cold and frozen environments. These respected healthcare and research brands turn to Sonicu for three primary reasons:
- Operational Efficiency: Virtually eliminate the need for tedious and costly manual logging
- Compliance Automation: Respond to virtually any regulatory audit or inspection in a few clicks with our reports section
- Asset Protection: Detect and respond to any temperature excursion that can threaten virtually anything perishable: food, drugs, vaccines, research, etc.
Our customers stay with us thanks to our American-based customer support that is never more than a phone call away. While our technology is intuitive and powerful, we know it’s only as strong as the people who stand behind it.
A variety of temperature sensitive medications and vaccines are carried out in pharmacies.
These medications must be cold stored in stable temperature-controlled units designed to provide temperature stability.
Read below for more information about medication storage.
What is the cold chain?
Cold Chain refers to coordinated events in temperature-controlled environments to store, manage and transport temperature-sensitive medications and vaccines.
Vaccines, food and certain medications must be consistently stored in a limited temperature range – the moment it is manufactured until the moment of vaccination.
If the temperature is too high or too low the potency is affected and cannot be regained or restored.
Why are medication refrigerators needed?
Could a household or dormitory-style refrigerator be an acceptable substitute?
Medication refrigerators are designed to provide stable temperatures that safely store certain medications and vaccines.
A medication refrigerator should provide a stable temperature between 35ºF and 46ºF and a medication freezer should provide a stable temperature at or below 5º F or -15º C. Household and dormitory style units do not hold appropriate stable temperatures to be substituted.
These units tend to cause the contents of medications and vaccines to freeze which affects potency and usage.
What kind of medication refrigerator do I need?
There are 2 models of medication refrigerators: glass door models and solid door models. Glass door models allow pharmacy staff to see the products they need without opening the door and provide protection against temperature.
However, in the case of power failure glass doors are less reliable with an acceptable temperature range. Solid doors provided consistent temperature control for up to two hours of power loss given the door remains closed.
There are medical-grade combination refrigerator and freezer units acceptable for medication storage, but stand-alone units are preferred as these provide superior temperature control
Cold Chain Temperature Monitoring Solution: Trusted and Proven
Why is it important to maintain a stable temperature in the medication refrigerator?
Maintaining the proper temperature in a medication refrigerator is crucial to maintaining the cold chain for temperature-sensitive medications.
Some must be frozen to 5º F/-15º C, or lower, some are to be refrigerated between 2º C and 8º C/35ºF and 46ºF, and others do not need cold storage at all
How can temperature loss be avoided during power outages?
Pharmacies should have emergency preparedness plans that outline protocols to deal with temperature-controlled goods in the event of power loss.
If power is lost and a backup unit or generator is available, the door of the medication refrigerator should remain closed. Even in normal circumstances, It is good practice to avoid keeping the unit door open for longer than required.
If a backup unit is available, transfer medications in small batches to avoid temperature loss from holding the door open.
How to Deploy an Affordable Cold Chain Temperature Monitoring Solution
What size medication refrigerator is necessary?
The size of the medication refrigerator is based on the space allotted for the unit and the amount of medication being stored.
There should be space in the unit to avoid stacking medications and allow space for proper air circulation.
The external area of the unit should allow for proper ventilation. These determinants contribute to a consistent temperature inside the refrigerator.
Where should medication be stored?
General medication storage is dependent on the type of medication. Some must be frozen, some are to be refrigerated, and others do not need cold storage at all.
Room temperature medications should not be stored above certain temperatures as well.
Medications should be stored in the center of the refrigerator, away from the bottoms and sides. Never store medications on door shelves or bins as these areas are prone to larger fluctuations in temperature.
How can the temperature of the medication refrigerator be maintained?
You can also use an independent temperature monitoring device which should be checked twice daily at a minimum.
If the refrigerator or freezer unit is struggling to maintain a stable temperature or is requiring defrosting procedures, check its’ gasket seal to ensure that it is functioning properly and is not causing room temperature air to flow into the unit.
Why Work with Sonicu?
Founded in 2008 with a focus on noise monitoring in healthcare environments, Sonicu has evolved to provide robust temperature and environmental monitoring solutions that serve some of finest brands in healthcare, life science and food service.
Our rugged and reliable hardware is manufactured to withstand the most demanding environments while our SoniCloud software delivers an intuitive platform that protects assets and streamlines virtually any regulatory requirement.
American-based Customer Support: Robust & Reliable High Touch Service
Software and technology is only as good as the people who stand behind it. At Sonicu, that means our team of American-based customer success managers who are never more than a phone call away to help field and fix any service issues.
Our probes and sensors are placed in demanding frozen environments and our software literally sends billions bits of data monthly, meaning there’s alway the potential for a hiccup on either the hardware or software.
We are committed to fielding every customer service request promptly and getting our customer online rapidly.
