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Cold weather and drug resistance; tracking seasonal changes in antibiotic misuse

This March, a team of experts working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a study on antibiotic prescription habits in outpatient facilities. The study, published in the Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology journal, showed that there are seasonal trends in prescriptions, with most antibiotics prescribed during winter months. 

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Medical Shipping During Hot Weather

While many companies move medical material all throughout the year, it should be recognized that they face additional challenges when moving this type of material during the hot summer months. When a trucking service is faced with moving medical material during the summer, they have to contend with the fact that too much heat can completely destroy the shipment which they are carrying. It becomes imperative, therefore, that measures are taken to make sure that the medical shipments are protected no matter how hot it may become outside.

The term “medical material” is a loose one, but almost everything that it refers to can be damaged by too much heat. For instance, tissue samples which are being moved to a lab can be damaged by heat, as can blood or organs. Those are all organic examples though. The truth is that even pharmaceutical compounds often need to be kept in temperature controlled storage while they are being moved. This means that all medical couriers need to have advanced storage containers on their vehicles which can keep goods at the perfect temperature. They also need to be able to cool the material in a number of different methods, such as gel pack cooling, refrigeration, and freezing.

When you are shipping medical material during the hot weather, having the right courier to ship the goods is only one of the things that you need to worry about. Packing the goods is another very large concern. Medical material needs to be packed in containers which are very well insulated. That will make sure that even when taken outside for brief periods of time that the cargo doesn’t become warm and damaged.

Another thing to think about during this type of shipping is making sure that you don’t let the cargo spend more time than it needs to outside in the hot air. This is something that you should watch even if you’re shipping the cargo in insulated containers. Some facilities load medical material from air conditioned loading docks to ensure that the cargo doesn’t have to spend any more time out of a cool environment than it absolutely needs to.

Medical material is very important. When the health of a patient depends on a successful delivery, it is the responsibility of a company to take every measure that they can to make sure that the deliveries arrive in the shape that they are intended to.

Chris Ellis is a consultant for trucking service and Medical Courier Omaha companies.

Hot Weather Shipping Of Medical Freight

When you’re shipping medical freight during hot weather, the trucking service that you’re using to move your medical material is going to be faced with many more challenges then they would be during a typical delivery. The added challenge is because of the threat which heat poses to most types of medical deliveries. Almost every type of material which can be classified as medical is in extreme danger if it becomes too warm for a prolonged period of time.

When shipping medical material in hot weather, every aspect of the delivery needs to be controlled as carefully as possible. The first thing which needs to be controlled is the initial storage. After that, the control should shift to the packaging of the item, followed by its transportation and final destination. The movement of the item between the various stages also needs to be considered to protect it as best as possible.

It is obvious that the goods will be stored in an appropriate facility at a medical facility. Therefore, the next step which needs to be carefully considered is the packaging of the item. Medical material being packaged for transit in hot weather needs two primary characteristics. It needs to be strong so it will not break or crack, and it needs to be well insulated so the products inside it will not warm up too quickly.

The next thing you need to consider is the movement of the goods into and out of their means of transportation. When it is hot out, every measure should be taken to ensure that this time period is as short as possible. This can be done by ensuring that all the areas which the cargo has to be carried through or clear, and that the vehicles are positioned as closely as possible. Some larger facilities will completely eliminate the risk posed by this situation by creating an air conditioned loading dock where cargo can be loaded in a temperature controlled environment.

Of course, the courier company and the vehicles that they are using need to be given some consideration as well. Although in order to be licensed to move medical material a courier will need to have certain types of equipment, it never hurts to double check. Asking a courier about their equipment, refrigeration, and the training of their drivers in monitoring medical material in transit can help ensure you that your deliveries are being properly looked after while they are in the care of the courier company.

Chris Ellis is a consultant for trucking service and Logistics Minnesota companies.

Hot Weather Medical Shipping

Shipping medical freight is one of the most delicate types of shipping that a courier company can be involved in. However, if a New Jersey courier service is shipping medical material during the hot summer months, they face some challenges which are much greater than they face when shipping during the winter. This is because most medical material is extremely sensitive to heat. If it is subjected to heat which is too high for a prolonged period of times, many types of medical material can completely spoil.

When a company is shipping medical material in hot weather, there are many things that they need to concern themselves with, because they have to protect the material from the heat at every step of the journey. Blood, tissue samples, organs, and pharmaceutical products are all very sensitive to heat, and if left unprotected there is a good chance that they will not reach their destinations in a form which is still usable.

When shipping in hot weather, the first thing which needs to be addressed is the way that the medical material is going to be packaged. Packing is very important because it is going to be the first line of defense between the material itself and the outside air temperature. Therefore, the primary characteristics of good packing for medical material are that it has to be very well insulated, well sealed, and resistant to cracking, breaking, or spilling. If medical material is packaged in containers like that, it will stay cool and safe even it exposed to the hot outside air for periods of time.

The vehicles which the material will be transported in are also very important. People shipping this type of material need to make sure that they’re doing business with a courier company that has all of the equipment required to ship the goods at the exact right controlled temperatures. There are different ways of cooling material, such as ambient temperature control, gel packs, and refrigeration. Different cooling methods are recommended for different type of materials, so the best medical couriers will be able to offer all of them.

Couriers who can make deliveries more promptly are also an important thing to consider when shipping supplies during the hot weather. When you use an emergency medical courier the goods will arrive much faster, and this reduced amount of time spent outside of cold storage in a proper facility can decrease the chance of any damage occurring to the cargo.

Everette is a consultant for new jersey courier service and new jersey logistics services companies as well as national courier service businesses.

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