Mapping ensures the right temperatures in the pet pharmacy

Published 2022-08-12

In 2007, Djurfarmacia started wholesaling. Soon there was a shop selling personal care products for animals and a veterinary clinic. Three years later, they also received permission to open the Apotek Trollet animal pharmacy. In order to comply with legal requirements that medicines are stored at the right temperatures, Djurfarmacia has commissioned a so-called mapping of the premises.

In short, mapping involves measuring the temperature at different locations and heights in a space over a period of time. After Nordtec had mapped the temperature levels at Djurfarmacia, we had a chat with pharmacy manager Anna Gustafsson and Cecilia Berg, responsible for wholesale.

What are the different types of warehouses you have?
– “We have stocks everywhere,” say both Anna and Cecilia, laughing. Both cold and hot, both room and refrigerator temperature, for many different purposes.

In which layers was mapping carried out?
– All of them, in fact. Our three cold rooms are now mapped and there was also a room temperature room that was mapped. We are required to have the right temperatures in all premises where medicines are present. Both in the retail part – that is, the pharmacy – and in the warehouses.

Why was Nordtec awarded the contract?
– We already knew Nordtec because we have been using the remote monitoring system testo Saveris 1 for a long time, which Nordtec supplied and installed. In this system, we receive alarms if there are abnormal temperatures somewhere.

– We have also always had Nordtec as support when it comes to temperature monitoring, so we felt it was natural to turn to you.

How long did the measurements last?
– We think it lasted five days, but it was a bit different because one of the cold rooms was brand new. One of the cold rooms also had to be readjusted before mapping, which took some extra time. If I remember correctly, it took place over a weekend as well.

– In the meantime, we had to use the warehouses as usual, opening and closing doors etc. to show how the temperatures varied in normal cases.

How was the business affected in the meantime?
– Not so much actually. It was just a matter of remembering to open and close doors, so that the situation would resemble normal working days.

How did you use the report after mapping, did you need to make any changes to meet the requirements?
– Maria (Almestål, lab manager) from Nordtec explained very well how everything was connected in the report, so that we could then make a decision that we were completely satisfied with.

– For example, one of the coolers was on the verge of being a bit too cold, but we discussed this and decided that it was okay.

Nordtec has also carried out a field calibration on your premises. What type of measuring equipment was calibrated?
– It was the entire testo Saveris 1 system that was calibrated on site here with us. Today we have 22 or 23 donors I think and it would be very complicated for us without this help. We can’t just take the sensors down and send them in for calibration and not have any temperature monitoring in the meantime. We need to keep a constant eye on the temperature.

Where do the temperature requirements you have to meet come from?
– This is required by the Medical Products Agency. We have both pharmacy and wholesale operations and there are great demands on temperature monitoring in several of our operations.

– Having a good monitoring system and making sure that the equipment is calibrated is important. And now we know that all donors are okay for a whole year!

Tips for others ordering mapping or calibration, anything they should consider or prepare?
– We really feel that we received all the information we needed for the mapping.

– It was a cold room that was brand new and we didn’t have a good drawing of it. So that was an example of things we needed to produce so that Nordtec could plan and calculate the work. Otherwise, there was nothing we needed to prepare. We were given very clear instructions in advance on how to proceed and there was absolutely nothing complicated that we had to do.

Were the Nordtec team responsive to what needed to be done?
– Yes, we think so. Everything went very smoothly.

So you were satisfied with how the mapping was done?
– Yes, we really were!