Environment of Care (EC) (Critical Access Hospitals / Critical Access Hospitals)
Refrigerator - Design Quality
Publish | January 01, 0001
What is The Joint Commission standard for specific design quality, criteria for both clinical and non-clinical use of refrigerators?
The Joint Commission has no standard that requires organizations to use a specific design quality or criteria for refrigerators. It is recognized that medication or laboratory refrigerators would likely require a significantly higher level of design quality than a food refrigerator in order to maintain acceptable temperature ranges. Although not specifically required, refrigerators marketed by manufacturers to be medical grade typically are designed for more aggressive and precise temperature control, and are constructed of more durable components (like metal construction, typically stainless steel). Through assessment of the product stored, the organization is to select the most appropriate quality and functionality for refrigerators to meet patient care and their operational needs. One caveat would be the use of dormitory-style units. The Joint Commission agrees with CDC recommendation not to store vaccine in a dormitory-style (or bar-style), combined refrigerator/freezer unit under any circumstances. A dormitory-style refrigerator is defined as a combination refrigerator/freezer unit that is outfitted with one exterior door and an evaporator plate (cooling coil), which is usually located inside an ice maker compartment (freezer) within the refrigerator. In performance testing, this type of unit demonstrated consistently unacceptable performance, regardless of where vaccines were placed. It also exhibited the inability to maintain temperatures and there were wide variations throughout the unit. There is no “good” vaccine storage area in this style unit. These units pose a significant risk of freezing vaccine even when used for temporary storage. Reference: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/storage/toolkit/storage-handling-toolkit.pdf [EC.02.05.05]
Was this response helpful?
Thank you for your feedback!