As a pharmacist, you’re already meticulous about the human factors that can affect a patient’s medication. Double-checking prescriptions, measuring dosages with care, and confirming the patient’s identity are all second nature to you. You probably also follow the general CDC guidelines about storing medications to keep them safe and effective. You keep vaccines in the refrigerator, for instance, and hope that shelved pills stay at room temperature.
What happens when you do your twice-daily check of the fridge and realize the door is ajar? Does it really matter, on that first hot spring day, that the heat is still pumping and everyone in the pharmacy is sweating?
The answer, of course, is yes. The United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) defines room temperature as a range of 59ºF to 86ºF (15ºC and 30ºC). Since vaccines are stored in the fridge or freezer, they have a more strict range. The CDC recommends 35ºF to 46ºF (2ºC to 8ºC) for fridge storage, and -13ºF - 14ºF (-25ºC - -10ºC) for freezers. Your ability to keep medications at a safe temperature isn’t just about good storage—for your patients, it could be a matter of life or death.
How can automated temperature monitoring in your pharmacy save your patients from disaster, and your store from costly medication damage?
You and your technicians do your best to check the fridge thermometer twice a day. But on a busy Saturday, it’s easy to get behind schedule. Automated temperature monitoring devices will record at your preferred intervals ranging from every 5 minutes to every 60 minutes. Devices will also alert you if there’s an issue — even when you’re not there. Moreover, a paper checklist can be easily misinterpreted, misplaced, or even forged. With an automated system, your log will be stored on a cloud based program which allows you to keep records for long periods of time.
That fridge check may take just a few seconds, but those seconds add up over the course of a year. The original financial outlay for an automated system will save you money over the long run, as it frees your staff to focus on their highest priority: quickly and safely getting patients the correct medications.
On a larger scale, automated monitoring gives you actionable alerts if something goes wrong, even if you’re offsite. If your pharmacy’s air conditioning breaks down in the middle of a sweltering August night, you’d normally arrive in the morning to thousands of dollars in compromised medications — to say nothing of the patients who are relying on you. An automated system will alert you by phone, text, or email as soon as it senses something has gone wrong, saving you time, money, and patient health.
According to the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, inappropriately stored vaccines have been proven to lead to a variety of adverse events, even creating “persistent and significant disability.” Insulin stored at the wrong temperature can lose nearly 20 percent of its efficacy, and according to the New York Times, improperly stored antibiotics can cause kidney and stomach damage. Automated temperature monitoring can both ease your mind and ensure your patients are getting medications at the peak of efficacy.
Having one less thing to worry about, such as temperature logging, can increase productivity throughout your workday. Continuous monitoring systems can reduce human error, lower costs, and put the safety of your patients first.
To stay up to date on the latest in Pharmacy Safety, subscribe to our blog.