Medicines are sensitive products and it is very easy for them to become unstable or unusable. High or low storage temperatures can impair their quality. Incorrectly stored medicines lose their efficiency and can be harmful to health. Therefore correct storage is vital to ensure that medicines remain safe, efficacious and retain their high quality right up to their stated expiry dates. Multiple pharmacies, laboratories and hospitals rely on Wireless Temperature Monitoring Systems to record temperature conditions during medicine and chemical storage, with full alarms that trigger both email and SMS alerts.
The storage of medicines is legally regulated by GDP Standard 9.2. Temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals such as insulin, liquid antibiotics and certain eye drops, must be stored in medicine refrigerators between 2 °C and 8 °C. A temperature range of 15 °C to 25 °C applies to the vast majority of other medicines. It is compulsory to document the actual storage conditions of all medicines. Many pharmacies we work with previously recorded their temperature values by hand. Wireless Temperature Monitoring systems now eliminate this work, saving time and money by reducing the risk to life and loss of value. The Sensors transmit their measured values to the cloud in real time; it stores the data centrally and securely and is available on all desktop and mobile devices. Sensors also log the data locally providing a secure backup in the event of any communication or power interruption to the facility.
With these convenient solutions hospitals and pharmacies do not have to purchase any equipment or set up its own IT infrastructure and benefits from the full service package. This includes annual sensor calibration, battery replacement and direct support with our full tier package. During the initial consultation meetings with the customer, we define and propose the monitoring system required to meet the legal requirements. After approval, the required hardware is calibrated, installed and configured either on site or by the customer themselves.
Wireless Temperature Monitoring Alerts
As soon as a measured temperature value falls below or exceeds the defined limits, the system triggers an alarm; an email is then sent to the designated person. Four alarm levels can be selected in RMS, depending on the risk, ‘Reminders’ for non-urgent events, ‘Warnings’ or ‘Alarms’ for measured values outside set limits and ‘Errors’ for possible hardware errors. Notified alarms must be acknowledged; causes and corrective measures can be entered and stored for audit and route cause analysis purposes.
Examples of monitored areas for pharmacies and hospitals include:
- Sales and storage rooms
- Picking machines
- Refrigerators for medicines
- Refrigerators for chemicals
- Refrigeration for Bloods