Freezer Failure: How to Protect Biomedical Materials
An Ohio fertility clinic experienced a freezer failure that partially thawed over 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos due to a disabled remote temperature alarm, highlighting the critical need for automated temperature and environmental monitoring systems to provide real-time alerts and prevent loss of valuable biomedical specimens.
Earlier this month, more than 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos were accidentally partially-thawed at an Ohio-based hospital fertility clinic. The accident was caused by an unexpected temperature fluctuation with the tissue storage bank where the specimens were stored in liquid nitrogen. The eggs and embryos were moved to a different cryotank but the incident has left over 700 patients wondering if their frozen samples are still viable and able to be used for in vitro fertilization. This serves as a bit of a catch-22 for the patients and the fertility clinic as the only way to determine whether or not the eggs and embryos can be used is by completely thawing them. However, once thawed they cannot be re-frozen.
After an investigation into the cause of the malfunction done by independent experts, it was determined that the incident was left unnoticed by staff due to their remote temperature alarm system being accidentally turned off. This means that clinical staff never received an alert that the temperature inside the cryotank was rising to unsafe levels. Unfortunately, the hospital isn’t sure who turned off the alarm or how long it was disabled for.
Safeguarding Future Frozen Samples
Unfortunately, equipment malfunctions do happen and often times without any warning. The best way to ensure that important laboratory specimens can be maintained and protected during these failures is with the help of an automated temperature and environmental monitoring solution. This enables healthcare organizations to receive alerts when equipment temperatures and samples are outside of their monitored thresholds. This allows staff to take immediate action which helps eliminate product loss and ensure the accuracy of samples and diagnostic testing. Had the fertility clinic known in real-time that the frozen eggs and embryos were approaching unsafe storage temperatures, staff would have been able to immediately move the samples to a functional cryotank.
Automated environmental monitoring systems allow the user to monitor and document a range of information such as temperature, humidity, carbon-dioxide, and other important conditions. Along with instantaneous alerts when refrigeration groups approach their thresholds, these solutions help simplify compliance and generate a variety of useful reports on multiple units.
Selecting the Best Environmental Monitoring Solution
When choosing the temperature and environmental monitoring system that is the greatest fit for your healthcare organization, it’s important to select a solution that provides you with the following:
- System Integration – Easy integration with existing Wi-Fi networks and various user interfaces
- Versatile – Small footprint, buffering options, visual and audible alerts, user configuration, locating features
- Simple Installation – Plug-and-play; no wiring
- Low Maintenance – Long battery life with the ability to move sensors as needed
- Enterprise-Class – Single infrastructure to support countless applications
Learn More
CenTrak’s Environmental Monitoring solution provides healthcare facilities with the ability to leverage one network to ensure all departments meet compliance standards and prevent product loss. Contact us today to set up a free demo!
Updated: April 2nd, 2018
Related
Storing Vaccines Correctly
Improper vaccine storage in healthcare facilities, such as incorrect refrigeration temperatures or equipment failure, compromises vaccine potency and effectiveness, endangers patient safety by leaving them unprotected against diseases, risks wasting limited vaccine supplies, and undermines patient trust, making adherence to manufacturer guidelines and regulatory standards essential.
Importance of Wireless Temperature Monitoring in Healthcare
Wireless temperature monitoring in healthcare uses specialized sensors to automatically track and record critical environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, and air pressure, ensuring the safety and compliance of sensitive materials like blood, vaccines, medications, and laboratory samples, thereby preventing product loss, eliminating manual reporting, and supporting patient safety across various hospital applications including blood banks, clinical labs, cryogenic storage, and food services.
Blood Bank Monitoring
CenTrak's Blood Bank Environmental Monitoring solution uses wireless LCD sensors and real-time alerts to automatically track and maintain optimal temperature, humidity, and air pressure conditions in blood storage and transport, ensuring compliance with AABB standards, preventing contamination and spoilage, enhancing patient safety, reducing product loss, and improving staff efficiency through automated reporting and NIST-certified accuracy.
Temperature Monitoring
At the 2011 ASHE Show, hospitals showed strong interest in CenTrak's Remote Temperature Monitoring solution, which offers reliable, wireless, 24/7 temperature sensing with automated alerts and detailed reports to help healthcare facilities comply with stringent standards for storing critical medical resources, and can be integrated with Real-Time Location Solutions for expanded functionality.
Prevent Vaccine Loss with a Temperature Monitoring Solution
As flu season drives high demand for vaccines with improved effectiveness this year, pharmacies must safeguard their limited vaccine inventory by maintaining proper refrigeration temperatures between 2⁰C and 8⁰C using wireless environmental and temperature monitoring solutions to prevent potency loss and ensure public health.
Clinical Laboratory
Centrak offers reliable, scalable environmental monitoring solutions for clinical laboratories—such as blood banks and pathology labs—that provide continuous, wireless monitoring of temperature, humidity, and air quality with real-time alerts, automated data logging, and integration with laboratory systems to ensure sample integrity, staff safety, and regulatory compliance with agencies like CAP, CLIA, and CDC.