Alarm Activation checks for TempTrak central monitoring system

[JoyDenver]

Would anyone be willing to share their procedure for performing periodic BB frig alarm checks with the TempTrak monitoring system?  I am the new Lab director at facilities that uses this system and we currently do not have an actual procedure for performing these checks.  It is my understanding that you cannot effectively cool or heat the sensor to activate the alarm like you would for a traditional manual alarm check.  Thanks

 

[BB1956]

We recently began using Temp Trak however we continue to have the manual alarms in each refrigerator.  We have been testing the manual alarm system as in the past however I would very much like to see how others are handling this issue.  I must say I have not completely trusted the Temp Trak as the alarms are fairly quiet and since during shifts our blood bank does not have a dedicated blood banker I am concerned they could silence the alarm and "forget" to follow up.  With the manual alarm it is so loud you cannot ignore it and it cannot be shut down except for a short interval.  It may drive you crazy but you can bet it can't be ignored.  Following.

[pinktoptube]

We have Temp Trak at one of our facilities  and I really do not like this system. The audible alarm is delayed by 15 minutes! the lowest we can change it is 5 minutes but facilities would have to change it for the whole hospital. So needless to say it makes using the temp trak probes for alarm checks impossible (with the delay). You basically have to perform this with two people and have one every 30 seconds refresh the screen and watch for a color change in the temperature readings. We have opted to do what BB1956 is doing, which is stick with manual alarm checks.

[Mrasmus1]

We also have TempTrak and chose not to use it for our alarm activations. Ours is set up by Wi-Fi, so if the network goes down or there is a hiccup the temperature may not post to the server for some time, which can be hours.  So, we use the refrigerator and freezer internal alarms.  In testing though our facilities people were able to have a different delay for the alarms for the blood bank than what the rest of the hospital has.  Ours was set to have no delay with temps posting every 5 minutes (assuming Wi-Fi data transmitted properly).

[DeeMc]

Are you alerted when the network is down? What if temps do not post to the server for over 4 hours? Do you also use paper charts for documentation of temps at least every 4 hours? The laboratory in my facility uses Temptrak but I have been hesitant to use it for the Blood Bank blood storage devices.

[cam1987]

TempTrak is really a temp recording system and not suited for Blood Bank alarms.  We have had the server not record temps so all blood storage refrigerators and freezers have a chart wheel.  It does come in handy as a backup when the chart wheel is changed but the tech forgets to push the button to get the pen to record the current temp.  We use the manual alarm on the refrigerators or freezers to check the alarms.