suhu Posted August 15, 2014 Share Posted August 15, 2014 We received some of these indicators to try out. We currently use a TempCheck to determine the temperature of returned units. With the shock watch, when do you consider the unit over 10 degrees? Is the temperature breached (over 10) at the first sign of a blue color in the window ie. a skinny blue line, or when more of the window turns blue, or when its completely blue? On some of my units, the blue color starts to appear around 9 degrees, and the window isnt fully blue until between 11 and 13 degrees (variable results).TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EDibble Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 We received some of these indicators to try out. We currently use a TempCheck to determine the temperature of returned units. With the shock watch, when do you consider the unit over 10 degrees? Is the temperature breached (over 10) at the first sign of a blue color in the window ie. a skinny blue line, or when more of the window turns blue, or when its completely blue? On some of my units, the blue color starts to appear around 9 degrees, and the window isnt fully blue until between 11 and 13 degrees (variable results).TIA.What does the package insert say? I do not use these myself, but if they are that difficult to read, that would be a mark against them. I assume you are happy with Temp Check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suhu Posted October 15, 2014 Author Share Posted October 15, 2014 temp check works fine, but we use coolers for extended storage in the OR. there is no way to know if units were removed from the coolers at left at room temp, not used and placed back in the cooler....temp would be fine upon return in such cases. This is why we are looking at an irreversible indicator. wondering if others have experience with this indicator. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byfaith Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 temp check works fine, but we use coolers for extended storage in the OR. there is no way to know if units were removed from the coolers at left at room temp, not used and placed back in the cooler....temp would be fine upon return in such cases. This is why we are looking at an irreversible indicator. wondering if others have experience with this indicator. thanks. We were cited for this very thing at our recent CAP inspection - ie not being able to prove that the units stayed in the cooler. While we would argue that the OR also has specific procedures to follow and are professionals, we are now going to try the new irreversable indicators marketed by Digitrax. They look pretty simple to use - will be trying them out soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suhu Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 Hi byfaith~ it'd be great if you'd post how your trials with your indicator go. did you mean Deltatrak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLiveris Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Digi-Trax is a distributor of the Shockwatch product, and we have been informed that as soon as any amount of blue has been displayed, the temperature has been breached. I hope this information helps. Let us know if we can be of service to you.Thank you,Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz0316 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 We use the shock watch indicators, and had a little trouble at first. I contacted the vendor and received some "tips."The tag can go anywhere on the unit, even on a labelwhen packing, position the units "tag up."The units should be refrigerated for 24 hrs before attaching the tag. This where we ran into trouble: taking a unit out, crossmatching it, then irradiating it (less than 10 min) then packing it resulted in the tags turning blue when they reached the off site location. So now we XM and irradiate, store the unit in the refrig and have the night shift place the tag on the unit at 6 am just before shipping to the cancer center (4 miles away).Sometimes we still have trouble if the unit is needed right away and the patient requires irradiated products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townsend Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Is there a color change if the unit goes below 1 degree C? I too have samples of the Shockwatch, but I can't find anything that says it ensures the unit is between 1-10, only that it doesn't go above 10. I know that this would be a minor concern, but how would an accrediting agency feel about only being able to monitor the high end of the breach? Units are issued to OR, and they can get pretty creative about repacking if they don't end up using the blood. We currently use Hemotemp II - the Shockwatch is much cheaper, but I'm concerned that they won't fit our needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suhu Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 LIz, It was suggested to us that the indicators be stored "pre-activated" off units in a refrigerator or freezer. I believe they said they could be kept under refrigeration for up to 1 year after activation. Maybe that would be something for you to try for your irradiated products? so I guess that answers your question too Townsend. The problem we are having is that the indicators sometimes turn just slightly blue and stay that way (a thin blue line) during transport. We use a pneumatic tube for delivery, but the whole process of xm/delivery is under 4 minutes. They are white when they leave the blood bank, but have a thin blue line by the time they arrive at destination. Ideally, it'd be great to have an indicator that turns a certain color if temp goes to 10-12 for example and for under 10 minutes . Another color to indicate it went over 12 degrees for over 10 minutes for units that were truly out of refrigeration.something to solve this slightly over 10 degrees in transist/handling issues that we are having trouble solving. Liz0316 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz0316 Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 suhu - thanks for the tip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgutman67 Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 (edited) OK Edited December 3, 2014 by jgutman67 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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