Healthcare

Great Lakes Bay Health Centers

Great Lakes Bay Health Centers Adopts Sonicu for their Vaccine Temperature Monitoring 

Mobile app simplicity serves 20 healthcare locations across Michigan

Heather Halm, like most of us, likes to leave work worries behind when she goes on vacation. 

But her legacy temperature monitoring system at a Michigan Federally Qualified Health Center designed to keep watch on vaccine temperatures, was making it hard to relax when she was away from the office. 

The temperature readings were often off, sometimes significantly. 

Securing new hardware for replacement or new fridges was cumbersome and time-consuming. 

And the calibration program was outright brutal. 

The legacy system was installed years before she took her current role leading immunization operations, and she was determined to find a new temperature monitoring system that better served her needs. 

She led a small team that explored alternative temperature monitoring providers for their system of nearly 50 cold storage units spread across dozens of sites in Mid-Michigan. 

They ultimately selected Sonicu in large part thanks to its simplicity and affordability. 

Since their initial adoption of Sonicu’s wireless remote temperature monitoring system for their vaccine fridges and freezers, Great Lakes Bay Health Centers has expanded monitoring into the pharmacy department as well. 

“I like being able to not worry about it when I go on vacation,” Halm said. “The system is very reliable, and the support has been right there when we needed it. It’s been a significant improvement for our system.” 

Sophisticated enough for enterprise hospitals, but simple enough for individual clinics

Why Sonicu? The factors Great Lakes Bay Health Centers favored in their monitoring search process

The team explored many cloud-based wireless temperature monitoring providers, but past frustrations with NIST calibration programs made Sonicu stand out. 

“We were really impressed with the SNAP program and how easy it was to get all of our probes calibrated,” Halm said, referring to Sonicu’s popular NIST calibration program leveraged by the vast majority of its customers. 

“It’s been a lot less to manage and much less stress knowing it’s so easy to implement and keep rolling.” 

The SNAP program comes in two versions: 

Many customers elect to have new calibrated probes shipped to them and simply unplug the old probe and plug in the new.

There’s no cumbersome testing or significant time investment spent at each fridge determining if a legacy probe is still calibrated. 

A large number of other Sonicu customers elect a done-for-you service where our Sonicu technicians visit the locations and conduct the switch, allowing administrators to focus on their core responsibilities and not invest time in the process. 

In a large hospital system, with many locations and cold storage devices, the done-for-you program can translate to significant time savings for key staff. In large facilities, simply walking around the campus can take hours if not days to complete scores of cold storage units. 

“We’ve invested significant resources to remove all the hassle and stress too often associated with calibration from our hardware. As we know from hundreds of clients, this represents a significant labor and resource challenge,” said Joe Mundell, Chief Revenue Officer, Sonicu. 

“The SNAP program allows our customers like Halm to simply subscribe and know they’re going to be ready for their next regulatory compliance audit as we simply deliver or even install the new probes well ahead of the expiration date for the older devices.” 

Halm also was impressed with the availability of product and speed of installation. 

“We loved that the equipment was ready to go right away with no delays,” she said. “We didn't want to wait to get a new system installed as the previous one was simply giving us too many issues, so the speed to get it here and good to go was impressive.”

Intuitive alarm trees for smarter management: Creating monitoring zones and groups 

With dozens of locations that involve scores of employees, Halm and the team at Great Lakes Bay Health Centers needed a system that was highly configurable to their exact alarming and alerting requirements, meaning only the right people receive the appropriate alerts at the exact right time. 

It may sound simple, but not every wireless remote temperature monitoring system is engineered to facilitate this level of alert tailoring.

Halm and her team appreciate its ability to keep the alerts where they need to be when they need to be seen. And that they can toggle between emails, texts and phone calls for different people in the organization. 

“We’ve built it so it’s super specific for our locations and shifts and so forth, allowing us to know the right people are getting the alert they need to protect their immunizations,” she explained.

“I see every site, but the local managers and staff only see their site and get their alerts, which helps keep us organized.” 

Compliance reporting has also been streamlined with their cloud-based Sonicu system that allows for reports to be automatically delivered to their inboxes. And they’re always up-to-the-minute ready for an impromptu regulatory audit. 

“We send our reports to the state health department with every order, and the Sonicu system has made that very easy,” Halm said. 

“And the health department has shared that they love it because it's so easy to read. Little stuff like that - the readability of the reports - just makes a big difference in making our jobs easier to manage.” 

Like so many Sonicu customers, the power outage alerts serve as an extra layer of value that no one was expecting. 

“To be able to see the power outage and then tie that to the location and understand if it’s the fridge or the entire building is something I didn’t expect to get, but it’s been helpful for sure,” she said. 

“Power outages are a threat to our program and that prompt alert gets your attention that we may need to act.”

But a power outage won’t prevent the Sonicu system from capturing or even sharing mission critical data. 

With its onboard battery and memory card, the Duo communicating meter can continue to collect and transmit information for days and even weeks in the event of a power or network outage. 

Mobile app flexibility: All your temperatures wherever you go

Halm said the web browser-based dashboard is intuitive and helps her stay connected to which cold storage devices may need attention. 

And she explained that the mobile app provides another layer of protection for when she and her team are out of the office and away from their computers. 

The app, available on iOS and Android, provides many of the same features enjoyed by desktop users, and also delivers push notification alerts. 

The Sonicu alerts can also be delivered via text, email and phone call, and users can configure the system to deliver different alert types to different users, and also stagger the alert to different users. 

If a pharmacy manager receives a text and email notification but doesn’t immediately respond, a facility manager may receive a phone call 15 minutes later, for example. 

Most Sonicu users are able to configure these alerts themselves, and our team of dedicated Customer Success Managers is also on hand to schedule a personalized training session to ensure every team member understands how to leverage these important features. 

“Support is amazing. I’m so impressed with the support. They will respond via email. They are just on top of it,” Halm said. 

CDC Requirements for Vaccine Temperature Monitoring 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides guidelines and requirements for vaccine temperature monitoring to ensure the safety and efficacy of vaccines. 

These guidelines are crucial to maintaining the proper temperature conditions during storage and transportation of vaccines. Sonicu has engineered its system, including the affordable display devices that can be simply affixed to a fridge door, around these exacting specifications. 

Here are some key CDC requirements for vaccine temperature monitoring:

Temperature Range:

Vaccines must be stored and transported within a specific temperature range to maintain their potency and effectiveness. 

Typically, vaccines should be stored between 36°F (2°C) and 46°F (8°C). Some vaccines may have specific temperature requirements, so it's essential to refer to the specific vaccine manufacturer's guidelines.

Temperature Monitoring Equipment:

CDC recommends the use of temperature monitoring equipment, such as digital data loggers or continuous temperature monitoring systems, to track and record temperature conditions accurately.

These devices should have a high degree of accuracy and precision, and their data should be easily accessible and retrievable. Sonicu is trusted by dozens of government agencies and private health systems charged with meeting these standards. 

Temperature Monitoring Locations:

Temperature sensors should be placed strategically within the storage and transportation units to ensure that temperature variations are detected and recorded accurately.

Sensors should be positioned in areas where temperature fluctuations are likely to occur, such as near doors, walls, or ventilation systems.

Monitoring Frequency:

Temperature monitoring should occur continuously or at regular intervals, depending on the type of monitoring equipment used. 

Continuous monitoring is preferred to promptly detect any temperature excursions. Sonicu’s rugged and reliable digital sensors and probes make continuous monitoring a breeze. 

Alarm Systems:

Temperature monitoring systems should have alarm functions that notify staff or responsible personnel when the temperature goes outside the acceptable range.

Alarm thresholds should be set within a narrow range to trigger alerts for any deviations from the recommended temperature range.

Data Logging and Recordkeeping:

All temperature data should be recorded and stored for future reference. This includes information on temperature readings, date, time, and any actions taken in response to temperature excursions.

Records should be maintained in a secure and easily retrievable manner. Sonicu relies on the AWS cloud, an industry-leading service provider, to store temperature and environmental data indefinitely so it can be ready for any customer when they need it. 

Corrective Actions:

If temperature excursions are detected, immediate corrective actions should be taken, such as adjusting the temperature, transferring vaccines to another storage unit, or replacing damaged vaccines.

Sonicu makes it easy to respond to alerts from the free mobile app as well as the desktop version, which is available anywhere with internet access thanks to the cloud storage. 

Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit:

The CDC provides a comprehensive Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit, which offers detailed guidance on vaccine temperature monitoring, storage, and handling practices. Healthcare providers and vaccine administrators should refer to this toolkit for the most up-to-date information.

It's crucial for healthcare facilities, vaccine providers, and personnel involved in vaccine storage and handling to adhere to these CDC requirements to maintain the integrity of vaccines and ensure they remain safe and effective for administration to patients. 

Additionally, local and state health departments may have specific guidelines and regulations that should be followed in addition to CDC recommendations.

Sonicu Management Tools

• Eliminated manual temperature reading and logging to increase efficiency and eliminate errors.
• Allows comments and context for alarm events and automatically organizes reports for federal and state regulatory reporting requirements.
• Provide archived historical data to identify potential equipment problems, define operational issues and improve processes and accountability.

CONCLUSION

Sonicu helped the Great Lakes Bay Health Centers  with three essential services:

2. COMPLIANCE AUTOMATION: ALWAYS READY

Whether it’s an FDA, CDC or Joint Commission inspection or CMS auditor, the Sonicu platform will deliver ready-made reports that help you eliminate your tedious reporting process.

This transformative process improvement also reduces the opportunity for human mishap to damage your inspection or audit.

You can relax with improved peace of mind knowing that virtually any auditor and inspector will be greeted with a simple and accurate report that demonstrates your sensitive assets and environments are being monitored and you have a plan to react if your team experiences an excursion.

3. ASSET MONITORING: CONNECT, DETECT AND PROTECT

It’s more than just knowing your sensitive environments are monitored.

It’s having smart alarms that ensure your entire team is notified via text, email and even phone calls when a potentially dangerous excursion occurs.

And it’s about powerful redundancy that protects against power and network outages.

Sonicu has invested in the research and development to innovate a solution with a singular focus: your peace of mind.

We’ve architected our solution around easy installation, an intuitive user experience and rapid and enduring return on investment.

That’s why public and private organizations grow with us.

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