Bascom Palmer Eye Institute serves as the Department of Ophthalmology for the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is one of the top rated ophthalmology hospitals in the United States with an exceptional team of 1,300 staff and faculty members who deliver excellent, personalized and compassionate care for each individual patient.
The hospital utilizes Helmer Scientific medical-grade refrigerators in the pharmacy and across the hospital for the storage of temperature sensitive medications such as eye injections, vaccines, eye drops, and insulin. These items must be refrigerated according to manufacturer instructions. Storage outside of the recommended temperature range could result in the products losing stability therefore making them ineffective. The pharmacy is responsible for the safe storage of these products, so it is essential that they invest in highly reliable pharmaceutical-grade refrigerators.
Previous to using Helmer Scientific refrigerators for medication storage, the eye institute was having trouble with their refrigerators going out of range frequently, setting off alarms, and sending an overwhelming amount of notifications to the pharmacists.
All of the hospital’s refrigerators are monitored using a real time, cloud based temperature monitoring solution which notifies the pharmacists if there is a high or low temperature alarm. The pharmacy is only staffed 12 hours per day, meaning that all alarms outside of pharmacy hours have to be answered by someone on call. Not only are the alarms inconvenient, storage at improper temperatures for an extended period of time can lead to costly waste of expensive drugs.
Having experience with Helmer Scientific refrigerators in other areas of the hospital, Lipton E. Gonzalez, Pharm.D., C.Ph., Staff Pharmacist at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, decided to move forward with the MLR102 countertop refrigerator for cold storage in a small medication room which services an inpatient unit.
“There wasn’t enough space in our medication room for an undercounter refrigerator. With the Helmer countertop refrigerator, we didn’t have to compromise on quality and reliability because of space constraints. We now have refrigerated storage where and when we need it,” said Gonzales.
Moreover, it was extremely important to Bascom Palmer to choose a refrigerator which was compatible with their automated dispensing cabinet. Refrigerated medications need to be secured, tracked and protected. The Helmer MLR102 allowed the facility to use their automated dispensing system’s remote refrigerator lock to control access to their valuable refrigerated medications.
The MLR102 compact refrigerator allowed Bascom Palmer Eye Institute to place a truly pharmaceutical-grade refrigerator in a medication room tight on space. Superior reliability and temperature uniformity keep the refrigerator in range, limiting alarms and notifications to actual temperature emergencies. “The flow of patients never stops. Refrigerated medications need to be stored at appropriate temperatures and accessible at all times,” stated Gonzales.
