Did you know that, according to Zippia, the annual revenue of the pharmaceutical industry in the US in 2020 was $425 billion? Additionally, the pharmaceutical market in the US made up 48% of the worldwide market that year.
Whether you’re in the pharmaceutical industry, run a lab or a hospital, or create vaccines, one of the things you might be wondering about is temperature monitoring.
This is one of the latest technologies people are using in their laboratories. But if you don’t know much about it, you might be stressed about deciding about whether to use it in your lab.
You might also feel overwhelmed when it comes to understanding how laboratory temperature monitoring works.
Fortunately, in this article, we’ll review everything you need to know about laboratory temperature monitoring. Finally, you can use this technology and save both money and time when running your lab. Read on to learn more.
What Is Temperature Monitoring?
Before we go into detail about how temperature monitoring works, what its benefits and uses are, and more, we’ll review what temperature monitoring is. Basically, when you use a temperature monitoring system, you’re using technology that detects temperature and records it as a measurement.
If, when you use this technology as a temperature monitor, it detects that the temperature isn’t what it should be, you will receive an alert.
Sometimes, you can use a laboratory temperature and humidity monitoring system. With this type of system, you’ll be able to keep track of not only temperature but also humidity.
As a result, you can ensure that your laboratory has the right temperature and humidity for whatever you’re storing in it.
How Temperature Monitoring Works
When it comes to how a laboratory temperature monitoring system works, the technology uses electrical signals to measure the temperature. There are two metals that make up the temperature monitor. When a temperature change occurs, the metals will generate resistance or an electric charge.
Then, this charge will cause the technology to create a temperature reading. There are two different types of sensors when it comes to temperature: contact and non-contact sensors.
Contact Type Temperature Sensors
Some types of temperature sensors must be in direct contact with the person or object to measure a decrease or increase in temperature. These sensor types are utilized for the detection of liquids, solids, and gases in a wide temperature range.
This range includes thermometers, thermistors, and more.
Non-contact Type Temperature Sensors
With non-contact type temperature sensors, the sensors don’t come into direct contact with the object to measure its temperature. The cold or hot degree is measured instead through the radiation that the energy source gives off.
The most common non-contact type temperature sensors are infrared and thermal imaging sensors.
The Benefits of Temperature Monitoring
There are several benefits you get when you use a temperature monitoring system. These include increased productivity, continuous data recording, aiding compliance, the ability to anticipate failures and malfunctions, and more.
Increased Productivity
When you don’t have a temperature monitoring system in your laboratory, it’s your highly skilled and trained staff that have to do temperature monitoring. They have to do this manually, and they have to do it every day. With a temperature monitoring system, you’re automating the process.
As a result, your staff can focus on completing other parts of their job, for which they received so much training.
This improves the efficiency of your laboratory and also increases productivity. After all, your staff won’t have to spend a large amount of time constantly monitoring temperatures, which is a repetitive task.
Instead, they can focus on the work they enjoy doing that’s more fulfilling and less tedious.
Additionally, you’ll simply save time. Your staff will have more time to do their work instead of taking time out of their work to monitor the temperature.
Continuous Data Recording
Another benefit of temperature monitoring is continuous data recording. At the very moment that the temperature in your laboratory goes up or down to a temperature it shouldn’t be, you’ll receive an immediate alert informing you of this.
At any time, night or day, lab staff can get this alert. Then, they can immediately do what they need to respond quickly so that they can bring the temperature back to what it should be.
This is an especially important benefit for labs that aren’t constantly staffed.
For example, if you have a lab that only has staff in it from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, then you could end up with a temperature change going unnoticed for hours or even days without temperature monitoring.
With temperature monitoring, however, you can simply assign some employees to be on call for when the temperature monitoring system sends the alert.
Then, they can swiftly take action to avoid any big issues that occur due to the unwanted temperature shift.
Continuous data recording and monitoring also give you the advantage of being able to anticipate future problems, for example, a slow lowering of temperatures over a long period.
You can take action before the problem becomes a larger issue.
Aiding Compliance
Aiding compliance is another benefit that you get from temperature monitoring. When you have a laboratory, you’re required to provide access to electronic traceability that’s full across a cold chain. You also have your own standards that you’ll have to comply with.
The step of collecting data manually for compliance is time-consuming.
Additionally, when someone enters this data onto the spreadsheets you’re sending off to demonstrate that you’re in full compliance, there’s also the issue of human error.
This is where a temperature monitoring system can be beneficial. With this type of solution, you automate the process of collecting data. Additionally, you can ensure that’s in the right format and available.
You’ll also have wireless access to it, so the temperature monitoring system will be accessible to you when you’re away from the lab, 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
This makes your assessment preparation process much more convenient, faster, and simpler.
The Ability to Anticipate Failures and Malfunctions
In addition to tracking temperature and logging data, a temperature monitoring system will also be able to warn you of any issues that might be likely to occur with the equipment in your lab. There are different types of alerts you can set up in this regard.
These include alerts that temperature is slowly changing, that your lab equipment requires maintenance, and whether a power outage has occurred.
By getting this incredibly important information, you can avoid any serious problems that would arise because of these issues.
You Can View the Collected Data From Anywhere
Another benefit that comes with temperature monitoring is that you can view the collected data from anywhere. In addition to being able to go onto the cloud to view this information, you can also use your phone to do so.
The data that the temperature monitoring system collects can be accessible to you (or to anyone you provide access to) through a variety of devices, like tablets, smartphones, and computers.
As a result, you can access it from anywhere. Whether you’re at the lab itself, out of town for a conference, or on vacation, you can get access to this important information you need.
Uses of Temperature Monitoring
There are many different ways you can use temperature monitoring in your lab. These include storing vaccines safely, checking refrigeration temperatures, and checking the temperature of a room (as well as humidity). We’ll review each of these now.
Storing Vaccines Safely
Considering the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the entire world, people are more aware now than ever of how important it is to store vaccines safely. With a temperature monitoring system, this is far more possible.
This is in large part because the temperature monitoring system can alert you or your staff immediately if there are any issues with temperature.
As a result, the right person can come in and fix the problem so that the vaccines can still be used.
Additionally, with the alert set up that notifies you whether there’s been a power outage, you can ensure that your vaccines are still usable by addressing the issue immediately.
Checking Refrigeration Temperatures for Pharmaceuticals
Having the right refrigeration temperature is essential for the safe storage of pharmaceuticals. This is important both for meeting regulations and the general health of the people you’re doing the work in the lab for in the first place.
However, as we’ve mentioned, checking refrigeration temperatures manually can include the problem of human error.
Depending on what you’re storing, this potential problem could be harmful or even life-threatening.
Fortunately, with a temperature monitoring system, you can constantly track refrigeration temperatures to ensure that the temperatures are correct.
If they aren’t, you can make the needed changes immediately after the system notifies you of the wrong temperature.
Checking the Temperature (and Humidity) of a Room for Medicine
When it comes to the storage of medicine, it’s important to have dry storage areas that are at the right temperature. If you’re storing medicine, this is a necessity where there isn’t room for the human error that occurs far too often with manual humidity and temperature checking.
Fortunately, with a temperature monitoring system that also detects humidity levels, you can ensure that the room has the right temperature and humidity levels.
Blood Bank Monitoring
It’s also important when storing blood (or organs) to have the fridges set at the right temperature. This is the only way you can safely use the blood later on. However, human error can cause the temperature not to be recorded correctly, rendering the blood useless.
Additionally, there’s the problem of the temperature going up if there’s a power outage where the blood is being stored.
Fortunately, with temperature monitoring, you can receive alerts about any changes in temperature or power outages and fix the problem immediately.
In addition to being helpful for blood bank monitoring, temperature monitoring can have similar benefits when it comes to the storage of blood that’s being tested.
Animal Laboratory Monitoring
If you run a laboratory where you carry out animal tests, it’s important to have the areas where the animals are located set at the right temperature. This makes it possible for you to control the tests; after all, animals experiencing different temperatures might not be useful for testing if their environments are different.
Additionally, if you’re testing anything relating to the animals (such as their blood), it’s important to ensure that the temperature is what it should be.
With temperature monitoring, you can ensure the conditions are as they should be when you carry out animal testing in your laboratory.
Need More Information?
Now that you’ve learned about laboratory temperature monitoring, you might need more information. Maybe you want to learn more about how to use a temperature monitoring system. Or maybe you want to learn about the different solutions available.
Whatever information you need, we can help. At SensoScientific, we’re experts when it comes to temperature and humidity monitoring systems.
We also have a variety of temperature and humidity monitoring systems available. To learn more about these systems, contact us now.