Remote management systems are responsible for verifying that the refrigeration equipment works correctly and that they warn if there is a failure. We present an exemplary case in a health center.
by Full Gauge Controls
A fundamental requirement for the correct conservation of medicines, in medical clinics, is temperature control. When a refrigerator does not work within the established parameters, for example, the result can be the loss of all the contents, often leading to damage with high values.
A clinic in São José dos Campos, in São Paulo, the Instituto de Oncología do Vale (IOV), experienced more than one situation in which, if they were not forewarned, they would have suffered enormous damage. They only did not have it because they installed a remote management system, which controls the refrigerators of exclusive storage of medicines.
Called Sitrad, the software, developed by the company Full Gauge Controls – manufacturer of automation solutions for the refrigeration, heating and air conditioning segment – allows the facilities to be managed through the Internet, by cell phone, notebook or computer. The system, in addition to functioning as a temperature, humidity and voltage controller, generates graphical and text reports and sends alarms when temperatures exceed the programmed values.
According to Cleber Alves, a computer technician at the Instituto de Oncología do Vale, when they adopted sitrad in 2010, the clinic needed an alarm system for refrigerators, because in part of the early morning they were left unprotected if any problem or generator failure occurred. "We also needed a more accurate and detailed record of the temperatures of the refrigerators that stored the investigational drugs. The system generates data every second, with the possibility of reports and graphs, meeting the expectations of the companies supplying the medicines," says Alves.
In practice, the Sitrad saved the IOV in at least two situations. In one of them, a refrigerator with medicines was involuntarily disconnected, and it was the software that warned. "On a certain occasion, after working hours, I received alerts from Sitrad on my cell phone, via email, indicating that the refrigerator of the pharmacy, in the São José dos Campos unit, was at a temperature outside the stipulated belt. I warned the doorman that I had just left the service to return to the premises and verify what had happened. When he arrived, he detected that the energy of the team had been disconnected by chance," recalls the technician.
"Without the Sitrad alarm, the refrigerator would remain disconnected all night, with a temperature totally out of the parameters, and we would have incalculable damage, beyond the worst of consequences, which would be not having the medicine to care for patients," complete.
In another situation of power outage and failure of the generator to turn on the refrigerator, the Full Gauge Controls system prevented the loss of medications. "We received via email a report and took the necessary measures in good time," said the IOV computer technician.
Alves also explains that the IOV also adopted the mobile version of the Sitrad: "The reason for also using this version is that, when we are notified by the security company of some variation in the temperature of the refrigerators or by a drop in energy, before going to the institution, we consulted sitrad Mobile to check the real need."
The management mode of the IOV drug refrigerators has been fundamental for the operation of both the matrix, in São José dos Campos, and for the other two units, located in Taubaté. "Every week we generate a graph of the temperatures of the refrigerators for the purpose of presentation to the auditors and prosecutors," he concludes.
