Effective Vaccine Storage

Background:
Maintaining the cold chain is critical to ensure the safety and efficacy of vaccines. The cold chain consists of personnel who use and maintain the equiment and provide the vaccine; equipment for safe storage and transportation of the vaccine; and procedures to manage the use of the vaccine. Any component missing from the cold chain can impact both the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Ensuring the appropriate storage of the vaccine once it reachs the office setting requires more than one individual being responsible for checking the temperature of the equipment. Establishing an improvement in the system of monitoring temperatures will lead to a greater compliance than holding an individual accountable for appropriate storage of the vaccine.

Setting:
Five private, not for profit, provider offices in a large metropolitan city.

Population:
N/A

Project Description:
Didactic presentation sharing probelms encountered with maintaining accurate refrigerator/freezer temperatures and the systems approach utilized to improve the monitoring and accountability of temperatures. Initially an electronic thermometer was purchased that monitored temperatures 24/7. This led to the discovery that refrigerators need to be replaced. New refrigerators were energy efficient so did not recover quickly enough to maintain the cold chain. Upgraded stand-alone refrigerators were purchased. Additionally, a web-based program was developed for staff to enter temperatures. Lack of temperature recordings by a specified time or recording of inappropriate temperatures generates a series of emails and pages until corrective action is taken. Corrective action and/or notes can be entered online. The web-based program interfaces with the electronic monitoring system. Recorded temperatures and graphs can be accessed anywhere there is internet access.

Results/Lessons Learned:
Manual monitoring of temperatures twice daily was not enough to ensure maintenance of appropriate temperatures. Utilization of information technology provided a flexible, cost effective solution for the entire organization.