Environmental monitoring is a great way for organisations to safe-guard their critical equipment from the elements. These systems warn the user of any impending dangers which may damage or break expensive equipment. In the case of the National Health Service, technical equipment is both expensive and can make the difference between life and death. Down-time isn't an option and the consequences of a broken machine or spoilt medicine can prove fatal.
NHS trust management are turning to monitoring solutions to ensure medical equipment isn't being exposed to any damaging effects of temperature, humidity, water, power surges or unauthorised access. So if the situation does arise it can be dealt with before any serious damage is done.
These solutions give the user immediate updates from the sensor, utilising all the latest advances in communications so you're always aware of any situation as it occurs. Alerts can be set as audible alarms, e-mails, SNMP traps, SMS text messages or a GSM recorded voice call.
So what type of equipment might you want to monitor?
Fridge/Freezers -Every ward in an NHS hospital will have at least one fridge to store medicines and other medical supplies. They are in constant use which means they aren't just at risk of electronic failure but also human error by leaving the door open.
Blood Banks - When you store human blood there's little or no room for error. Red cells and whole blood, for instance, must be maintained strictly within the range of 1.0 to 6.0 degrees Celsius, with little or no tolerance for exceptions. If temperatures pass outside that range the stored blood may not be suitable for transfusions.
Organ Transportation - As with blood there is little room for error when the temperature is involved. Dataloggers are a great solution for this type of monitoring, as parameters can easily be changed on the fly.
Computer Rooms - Servers, PCs, PBX, Switches, Firewalls and many other pieces of expensive equipment do not react well to high temperature, humidity or flooding.
Laboratories - If medical experiments or tests are being performed then a controlled environment is very important so a monitoring solution will alert you to any unexpected conditions that occur.
Wards or Private Rooms - Ensure patients enjoy comfortable and safe temperature or humidity levels.
Recommend Solutions
Products such as the HWg-STE can monitor the temperature and record all data to a PC, providing you with accurate information on your freezers performance, also the slightest deviation from your "safe settings" can result in a email or SNMP trap alert being sent, this means you can be informed if the freezer is warming up and take action before it becomes an issue.
The Comet H series can also do all the above but has the advantage of a LCD screen so members of staff can visually see the temperature of the freezer but as with the HWg-STE alerts can be sent to a senior member of the team.
The SD100 is so low-cost no medical fridge/freezer in use should be without. The Sequoia SD100 is a very simple graphical datalogger that can sit in the freezer and record the temperature at minute, hour or daily intervals (total 100 recordings). The user can remove the device and simply see the readings displayed on its built-in LCD screen. Also the device has an audible alert should the temperature rise above a certain level for more than 2 hours. Notifying any members of staff nearby, this device is also very useful for NHS applications that use portable freezers and cold boxes to transport organs or blood.
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By: Chris Cowper
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