Laboratory Temperature Monitoring Systems

Laboratory Temperature Monitoring Systems

If you’re looking for a laboratory 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, including Indiana University Health, Piazza Produce and the Ohio University Innovation Center, 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. 

When you combine these three significant feature benefits, our clients average about $80,000 of savings for every 100 hospital beds. 

At research or university locations without beds, it’s not hard to imagine the time savings alone by simply not having staff manually record temperatures several times per day. 

Our customers stay with us thanks to our American-based customer support, which 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. 

Laboratory refrigerator temperature monitoring is a very important element of laboratory management that must be addressed to protect critical assets and manage regulatory compliance. 

Not just any kind of freezer or refrigerator monitoring system will meet the needs of most laboratories in the healthcare or life sciences industries. 

Most laboratories use specially-designed refrigerators and freezers and there are also uniquely designed laboratory temperature monitoring systems to support them. 

Facilities like hospital laboratories or biological research laboratories often need to store assets that are highly sensitive to temperatures, such as vaccines or research samples. 

It’s very important for these kinds of organizations to have the proper cold-storage solutions in place. 

Organizations usually put some kind of hospital refrigerator temperature monitoring policy in place as well to make sure all freezers and refrigerators are functioning correctly and keeping assets safe. 

If a freezer or refrigerator malfunctions, an effective medical refrigerator temperature monitoring system can alert personnel before it’s too late to correct the problem and protect the perishable assets. 

Keeping a continuous medication refrigerator temperature log also helps hospitals and research laboratories meet important compliance standards.

You can learn more about how our software helps compliance professionals in these case studies: 

Discount Drug Mart: Power Outage Protection + Compliance Automation

Problem: Transitioning from manual temperature logs and reactive power outage management

Solution: Adopting Sonicu's advanced system for seamless temperature monitoring and real-time power outage alerts across its 77 locations.

Hendricks Health: From Nutrition to the OR

Problem: The need to improve compliance and safety across various departments, starting from nutrition to the operating rooms.

Solution: Upgraded monitoring systems to enhance patient safety and streamline compliance across multiple facilities, including local YMCA rehabilitation facilities.

IU Health: Enterprise Monitoring

Problem: Challenges of using a locally based server and multiple monitoring solutions across departments.

Solution: Transitioned to a single, cloud-based solution with Sonicu to enhance monitoring capabilities across more than a dozen locations and the IU School of Medicine.

What is the ideal temperature range for medicines stored in the refrigerator?

The ideal temperature range for medicines stored in the refrigerator depends on the specific kind of medicine. 

Ideal storage temperatures could vary considerably, depending on the exact type of medication. It’s essential for anyone handling medications in a professional setting to fully understand the proper storage protocol for that particular medicine. 

The CDC’s guidelines for safe cold storage of medications or vaccines state that the ideal medical refrigerator temperature range in Celsius is 2–8 degrees (36–46 degrees Fahrenheit) and the ideal medical freezer temperature range in Celsius is -50 to -15 degrees Celsius (-58 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit).

How often should the temperatures on the fridge and freezer be checked for vaccines?

The CDC recommends checking the temperatures of all medical or laboratory freezers and refrigerators at least two times per workday. But checking temperatures manually, obviously a wildly inefficient use of resources, can be virtually eliminated with the use of an automated wireless temperature monitoring system like Sonicu.  

Laboratory Temperature And Humidity Monitoring System

There are multiple kinds of laboratory temperature and humidity monitoring systems an organization could use for temperature monitoring and reporting.

One of the most important considerations when choosing is how well it’s configured to manage compliance. 

Regulations like the CLIA lab temperature requirements stipulate strict standards that certain organizations must meet with their storage monitoring and reporting systems. 

According to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), all facilities that test human specimens for health assessment or to diagnose, prevent or treat disease must abide by specific federal standards. 

Implementing an effective laboratory temperature monitoring system can be a great way for hospitals or research laboratories to improve compliance with regulations like the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988.

There are various kinds of temperature monitoring systems. But not all of them are designed with compliance readiness in mind, let alone supported with a sensor calibration program that makes it simple and affordable for laboratories to meet strict NIST certifications. 

Many modern, digital temperature monitoring solutions are cloud-based, meaning they store the data off-site and don’t require a significant investment of time and money to install and support on-site servers. 

Cloud-based temperature monitoring systems are one of the most effective kinds of tools for ensuring compliance because they can provide consistent, automated temperature logging solutions.

Sonicu is a perfect example of a cloud-based temperature monitoring solution that can help organizations streamline compliance processes. Sonicu’s platform can automatically monitor storage conditions such as temperature, humidity, and air pressure and provide detailed reports that help track the statuses of cold-storage environments. 

Lab Monitoring System

Effective lab monitoring systems are integral to many kinds of facilities that need to store assets under specific room conditions.  It’s critical to select the right kind of laboratory temperature monitoring system for the type of storage environment. For example, a hospital laboratory that needs to store vaccines safely would need some kind of cold storage location with a cooler temperature monitoring system. 

On the other hand, an incubator monitoring system may be more useful for monitoring warm storage conditions. If a facility is storing easily damaged assets from moisture, reducing humidity in a laboratory would likely be a higher priority when comparing solutions. Likewise, a laboratory temperature monitoring system would be most appropriate for monitoring assets that must be stored at specific temperatures.

You can use Sonicu’s environmental conditions monitoring solutions to monitor multiple kinds of conditions, including temperature, humidity, and air pressure. Sonicu’s automated remote lab monitoring systems are easy to implement and provide advanced monitoring solutions that can meet the needs of many kinds of organizations, including clinical laboratories, university laboratories, and Contract Research Organization facilities. Sonicu’s solutions are also some of the most cost-effective on the market and are completely compliant with all applicable regulatory requirements on both the state and federal levels. 

Wireless Temperature Monitoring System

Before there were digital temperature monitoring solutions, organizations had to rely on manual methods of monitoring and recording storage conditions. Today, some facilities still rely on manual temperature monitoring and logging, even though automated, wireless temperature monitoring systems are much more effective and reliable in nearly every case. Here are a few of the most common drawbacks of continuing to use a manual temperature monitoring process.

• Manual temperature logging introduces a much higher chance of human error. Even skilled, well-meaning employees can occasionally misread a thermometer or forget to log a temperature.
• Risk of error aside, when employees have to periodically inspect freezers or refrigerators and log temperatures by hand, it distracts them from their main roles at the facility. A manual temperature logging system may not seem particularly resource intensive, the amount of time your employees will spend checking temperatures can add up considerably over time. 
• Manual temperature checks provide only periodic snapshots of a facility’s cold storage conditions. Isolated single reports do not tell the whole story and can sometimes give personnel a false impression of their storage conditions.

Remote Temperature Monitoring System

Organizations that have used manual temperature logging solutions for a long time may be slow to change. However, an industrial wireless temperature monitoring system can provide many advantages over a manual process. For example:

• Remote temperature monitoring via cell phone or other wireless device can make compliance much easier. A remote monitoring system can continuously monitor temperature and keep a continuous log of temperature data so employees don’t need to take time out of their busy schedules. Automated temperature logging is also almost always more accurate than manual logging.
• The best Wi-Fi temperature sensors can provide fast and reliable alerts when there’s a problem with a facility’s storage temperatures. Power and alert redundancy and data protections ensure that employees are notified and able to respond to issues as quickly as possible. 
• Automated temperature data logging can also help organizations learn more from their data. The SoniCloud Dashboard is a powerful analytics interface that makes it possible to view all temperature data in real-time and identify relevant trends or issues.  
• Sonicu temperature monitoring kits are easy to deploy, meaning you can complete your wireless temperature monitoring system project without a long, complicated setup process.

There are a lot of different advantages to using a remote temperature monitoring system that can monitor and log data via Wi-Fi. But what about how to monitor temperature remotely without Wi-Fi? Sonicu users that can’t or don’t want to transmit temperature data via Wi-Fi can choose between several alternative wireless data transmission methods, including radio frequency and 4G cellular. You can accomplish remote temperature monitoring without the internet using one of these alternative methods. 

You can learn more about how our software helps compliance professionals in these case studies: 

Great Lakes Bay Health Centers: Immunization Monitoring

Problem: Need for a reliable temperature monitoring solution for vaccines across multiple locations and cold storage devices.

Solution: Implemented Sonicu's automated monitoring and done-for-you calibration, which allows routine checks from mobile devices and ensures compliance with minimal staff involvement.

SUNY Downstate: Protecting Children's Vaccines

Problem: The need for a simple, reliable, and cost-effective monitoring solution after an incident involving an open fridge door nearly costing a clinic a batch of vaccines.

Solution: Adopt a new monitoring system that is easy to install and use, ensuring the safety of vaccine supplies.

Cryopoint: Mission-Critical Monitoring

Problem: Cryopoint faced calibration challenges with their legacy monitoring system and issues with a server-based system, putting critical samples at risk.

Solution: Transitioned to Sonicu's SoniCloud and its mobile-first solution, enhancing reliability in monitoring and easing operations.

Lab Alert Monitoring System

Laboratory freezers and refrigerators are not perfect — even high-quality freezers or refrigerators will fail eventually. There is also always the element of human error to consider. For reasons like these, there is no way to guarantee that a laboratory’s cold storage will always remain at the correct temperature. It’s essential to have an effective lab alert monitoring system to notify lab personnel in the event of a problem. 

Lab environmental monitoring ensures that unexpected changes in storage temperatures do not go unnoticed and unreported. A proper wireless temperature monitoring system for laboratory settings is necessary to provide adequate warning if assets in storage are at risk. Without an alert system in place, valuable medical or research-related assets could be ruined. Sonicu’s advanced alarming capabilities include features such as:

• Smart alarms are designed to prevent alarm fatigue.
• Tiered alarming that notifies the correct people when there’s a problem.
• The ability to snooze an alert, comment on alerts, and share alerts — all from within the mobile app.

Laboratory Temperature And Humidity Standards

Testing and calibration laboratories use certain standards when it comes to temperature and humidity. The primary ISO/IEC standard that most laboratories use is ISO 17025. This standard is designed to prove that a laboratory is capable of producing reliable results. Meeting ISO 17025 temperature and humidity requirements make a laboratory much more credible on an international scale. 

Another commonly used standard is ISO 9001, which can apply to any business or industry. ISO 9001 temperature and humidity requirements outline specific requirements for a quality management system (QMS).

Setting specific laboratory temperature and humidity standards helps increase confidence in laboratory work and makes it easier for separate facilities to collaborate. By adhering to standardized laboratory room temperature and humidity requirements, organizations can ensure their results are reliable and internationally accepted. 

There are several different regulating bodies that provide standards for a variety of specific applications, such as microbiology laboratory temperature and humidity requirements. Different facilities may need to adhere to different sets of laboratory temperature and humidity standards. ISO standards apply to many laboratories around the world.