How testo Saveris is helping Eastern Health Pathology

Having the ability to keep track of the temperature storage of sensitive goods is crucial in healthcare. Everything from incubators to medical refrigeration units must be kept within the strictest boundaries.

The data monitoring system testo Saveris is capable of keeping such measurements in check, and it is currently being put to use by Eastern Health in several locations across the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

Associate Director and Core Laboratory Manager Tony O’Neill of Eastern Health Pathology explained more about the organisation, and how expansion has seen the system from testo become more valuable than ever.

“We’re the second largest metropolitan health network within Victoria. One of our acute care hospitals – Box Hill Hospital – has just opened up a brand new facility and it’s close to double the size of what it was, so our workload and requirements are on the increase,” he said.

Varying temperature range

Eastern Health Pathology has three separate laboratories, each of which have devices such as freezers, waterbaths and incubators which must be carefully monitored by accurate thermometers.

“We’ve got a variety of devices that have to be kept in expected temperature ranges – from minus 80 degree Celsius freezers all the way up to incubators in the mid-40 degree Celsius range,” Mr O’Neill stated.

“We have a regulatory requirement to make sure that these devices are maintained at expected temperatures. Any variation from this may affect patient testing and diagnosis. For example, incubating microbiology plates, storage of blood products and storage of frozen samples must all be done and documented appropriately.”

Strict regulations

“To talk specifically about blood storage devices, there are incredibly strict regulations upon the temperature tolerances of blood product refrigerators and freezers. We’re storing thousands of dollars worth of donated blood and plasma products and if the temperatures are not maintained at appropriate levels, the products have to be discarded,” Mr O’Neill went onto explain.

A further benefit that Eastern Health Pathology has found by implementing testo Saveris is that the system can consistently log data – storing up to 18 million measurement values – as well as being highly accurate.

“Not only do we need appropriate control of our temperature-sensitive devices, we also have to have very good record keeping of temperature data that can be reproduced when required,” Mr O’Neill said.

Constant temperature monitoring

Mr O’Neill went on to highlight the inefficiencies that the system from testo has ironed out of Eastern Health Pathology’s processes.

“Before testo we had a series of individual local temperature monitoring systems on each applicable device and we had to go round and actually manually check and record that those devices were operating at the right temperature. That manual checking, depending on the device, may have only been on a 24 hour basis,” he said.

“[Using the testo Saveris system] means that all of our devices are being monitored in a universal, continuous manner. It’s exactly the same process no matter what the device is. If there is an alarm, we know exactly what device it is and our response to the alarm can be simply recorded which makes it easier to manage and track issues, if any. We also have the ability to monitor devices located in areas which may not be staffed 24 hours a day,” Mr O’Neill concluded.