Pharmacy Purchasing & Products recently released results from their 2018 refrigeration survey. This survey contained feedback from 367 Directors of Pharmacy from US-based hospitals. The results of the survey indicate that hospital adoption of medical-grade refrigeration continues to rise, with 89% adoption for the storage of medications and vaccines. Larger facilities, based on total number of beds, tended to have greater adoption rates of medical-grade refrigerators when compared to smaller facilities.
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Source for Graphs: 2018 Pharmacy Product and Purchasing State of Pharmacy Automation Survey |
State Departments of Health, State Boards of Pharmacy, CDC, Joint Commission and other agencies include refrigeration as part of inspections and audits. This means that Hospital Pharmacists must consider refrigerator performance in the central pharmacy as well as units used across multiple hospital locations and in medication rooms. Maintaining regulatory compliance for sensitive vaccines and medications, as well as ensuring patient safety, drives the decision to invest in medical-grade refrigeration.
This survey also inquired about the brands of refrigeration in use. Helmer Scientific was named as the most commonly used brand in this survey, with 41% of respondents citing Helmer as a brand in use in their facility for pharmaceutical storage. Helmer was listed as the most common refrigerator in use for pharmacy for the second year in a row. See the complete survey from Pharmacy Purchasing & Products using this link.
