Reduction of Medicine Disposal

Maintenance personnel at the University Medical Center in Groningen, Netherlands—a regional hospital with 1,500 beds and over 10,000 staff—sought a solution to address issues affecting vaccine quality. Frequent opening and closing of refrigeration units, combined with the lack of a properly installed temperature monitoring system, made it extremely difficult to ensure compliance with vaccine storage standards. This posed serious risks to health, safety, and public trust in the vaccination process. Moreover, a single refrigerator can hold vaccines worth over €20,000, which are easily compromised if storage temperatures aren’t precisely maintained.

University Medical Center in Groningen

University Medical Center in Groningen, Netherlands

Challenges

Vaccine quality in question
Unreliable refrigeration temperature measurements
Manual inspections are time-consuming and costly

Solution

The solution was developed based on the requirements defined by the maintenance personnel at University Medical Center Groningen. They specified the need for temperature accuracy within 0.5°C and a measurement range from -2°C to +16°C, along with the ability to detect and alert for open refrigerator doors.

Initially, the team installed 10 pilot refrigeration units. After receiving staff approval, they proceeded with deploying an additional 300 sensors. Installation was straightforward, using Senstick Microclimate sensors in combination with two indoor TTN gateways.

The data stream connects directly to AWS IoT, where the system sets thresholds to trigger alerts via email and SMS. These alerts notify responsible personnel when temperatures drop more than 5°C, especially when combined with an open door event.

In addition, the system generates weekly digests reporting temperature swings and utilization trends, helping maintenance teams schedule inspections more effectively.

Benefits