In the world of healthcare, precision and compliance with industry standards is paramount.
One critical aspect that often goes unnoticed, but plays a pivotal role in maintaining healthcare quality, is medical refrigeration. Proper storage and handling of vaccines and medications in medical fridges is important. It helps protect patients and preserve the quality of life-saving substances.
Throughout this article, we’ll highlight the significance of medical refrigeration and its impact on overall healthcare quality.
The Role of Medical Fridges in Healthcare
Medical fridges are specialised pieces of equipment used in healthcare to store vaccines, medications, and other temperature-sensitive medical supplies.
Medical fridges are equipped with precise temperature controls to keep vaccines and medications safe. This temperature range is between +2oC and +8oC and is integral for preserving their quality. This level of accuracy cannot be guaranteed using a normal refrigerator.
The Importance of Medical Fridge Regulation
To ensure the safe storage of vaccines and medications, ensuring your medical fridge abides by industry regulations is essential.
Regulatory agencies such as the Medicines & Healthcare Products
Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have established strict guidelines for medical refrigeration. These rules include temperature monitoring, upkeep, and paperwork, all of which are important for maintaining good healthcare quality.
The agency also covers lesser-known regulations, for example, storage guidelines. The agency highlights that stock should be separated by status: incoming, quarantine, returned, and outgoing. The MHRA also states to leave space between products in the chamber and not let stock touch the fridge floor or walls.
These additional requirements ensure that air is circulated evenly throughout the entire chamber so products remain in their optimal temperature range.
Compliance with Cold Chain Policy
The “cold chain” is a term used to describe the process of maintaining the correct temperature conditions for temperature-sensitive products throughout their entire supply chain, from manufacturer to end-user. This range of fridge temperature is between +2oC and +8oC.
In healthcare, it is crucial to adhere to the cold chain policy. This policy ensures that vaccines and medications are stored and transported at the correct temperature. Medical refrigeration is a cornerstone of this policy.
Failing to store medicines and vaccines within this small temperature range can result in the reduced potency of medications. Additionally, this can also render them ineffective, unusable or even harmful to patients.
To ensure that the cold chain policy is met, healthcare professionals use portable vaccine carriers. These are used during transportation and vaccine handling to ensure medications are constantly kept in cold storage and do not fluctuate outside of their required range during transportation.
What impact will complying with medical fridge regulations have?
Better medication storage and handling
Medicine and vaccine storage within medical fridges is a vital aspect of healthcare quality. These substances are incredibly delicate and sensitive to temperature fluctuations. Any deviation from the recommended storage temperature can reduce their effectiveness, which can potentially put public health at risk.
Healthcare facilities need to invest in a medical fridge that meets regulations. This fridge should be able to consistently and accurately monitor and record temperature data and is a necessary investment to prevent any issues.
CoolMed medical fridges record the internal temperatures continually throughout the day using a min/max thermometer and are accurate to 0.5oC. As part of the guidelines for medical refrigeration, a secondary temperature monitoring system is also required to ensure this accuracy further. Our data loggers are an additional accessory that allows temperatures to be logged for reliable future reference and analysis.
Positive impact on healthcare quality
Ensuring compliance with medical fridge policy and cold chain policy directly impacts healthcare quality. When vaccines and medications are stored and handled correctly, patients receive treatments that are as potent and effective as intended. In turn, this minimises the risk of adverse reactions, treatment failures, or outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Moreover, adhering to regulatory standards related to medical refrigeration demonstrates a commitment to patient safety and quality care. Showing that the facility takes its responsibilities seriously builds trust and a good reputation. This makes healthcare providers, patients, and regulatory agencies feel confident in their capabilities.
Contact our team
Medical refrigeration is an unsung hero in healthcare, playing a crucial role in maintaining healthcare quality and patient safety. Proper storage and handling of vaccines, medications, and other temperature-sensitive medical supplies are essential components of healthcare delivery.
Compliance with medical fridge regulation is not just a regulatory requirement, it’s a commitment to high-quality patient care. By investing in the right equipment, and adhering to best practices, healthcare facilities can uphold the highest standards of quality and ensure the well-being of their patients.
To talk to our sales team about our medical fridges, email info@coolmed.co.uk or call +44 161 772 5666. Our team look forward to talking with you soon.
