With 4-5 billion laboratory tests ordered annually in the United States, the role of Laboratory Scientists has become even more critical in the delivery of patient care. It is estimated that 70% of the decisions physicians make when treating patients are directly influenced by a...
Read more »Adoption of Medical-grade Refrigeration; 2016 State of Laboratory Technology Survey
Medical Lab Management recently released their 3rd Annual State of Laboratory Technology Survey Results, which included questions related to the adoption of medical-grade refrigerators and freezers. This year's survey results are based on responses from 376 Clinical Laboratory...
Read more »What is Oil Management and Why is it Important to Ultra-Low Freezer Reliability?
When Helmer Scientific set out to develop our Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers, we started with our customers’ pain points. It is extremely disruptive when an ultra-low freezer fails to work properly – the stored items have to be moved to another freezer, samples could be lost,...
Read more »AABB Releases Guidance for Red Blood Cell Transfusion Thresholds and Storage
AABB has released new evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the transfusion of red blood cells. The new guidelines were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Previous guidelines had been put into place in 2012. Since then, several large scale...
Read more »Helmer Scientific Expands Voltages for High-Performance Auto-Defrost Freezer Line
Helmer Scientific, a leading supplier of cold storage and processing equipment, has announced that their -30ºC Laboratory and Plasma Freezer line is now available in a 115 volt electrical configuration. The new configuration is in addition to the existing 208/230 volt...
Read more »Zipline Launches Drone Delivery of Blood Products in Rwanda
Photo Credit: Zipline
Zipline, a US robotics and drone technology, has implemented the world’s first drone delivery service for life-saving blood products in Rwanda. The Ministry of Health of Rwanda and the National Center for Blood Transfusion (NCBT) pursued options to improve...
Read more »Orlando Health Safely Stores Samples with the Helmer MLR102 Countertop Refrigerator
Many departments throughout the hospital are extremely tight on space. From the lab, to the pharmacy, there are various items that require refrigeration such as patient samples and medications, but lack of space makes it extremely difficult to use proper medical-grade...
Read more »What Is The Difference Between Manual and Auto-Defrost Freezer Performance?
It can be confusing for a laboratory to choose between manual defrost and auto-defrost freezers. A commonly held belief is that manual defrost freezers are the best choice for storing certain sensitive biological materials such as enzymes. Traditional auto-defrost freezers...
Read more »Ultra-low Temperature Freezers - Troubleshooting and Maintenance Tips
The unintended consequences of a poorly maintained ultra-low temperature freezer can include catastrophic loss of potentially irreplaceable samples and losing compressor efficiency over time. According to a US Department of Energy report, an Ultra-low temp freezer can use...
Read more »Not all Compact Medical-grade Refrigerators are Created Equal
New regulations and guidelines are making it increasingly difficult to choose the right refrigerator for specific clinical applications. As providers move away from small, dorm-style refrigerators to medical-grade refrigerators, there is likely confusion when it comes to a...
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