The range of medication storage temperatures in aeromedical emergency medical services

The United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) recommends that medication storage temperatures should be maintained between 15 degrees C and 30 degrees C (59 degrees F to 86 degrees F). Concerns have been raised that storage temperatures in EMS may deviate from this optimal range, predisposing drugs to degradation. This study was conducted to determine whether temperatures inside the drug box carried by paramedics aboard a helicopter remained within the range.

The Aviation Section, with a paramedic on board, utilizes two helicopters and conducts approximately 80 patient care flights per month. A dual-display indoor/outdoor thermometer with memory was used to measure the highest and lowest temperatures during each shift. The thermometer was kept with medications in a nylon drug bag, which remained on the helicopter except when needed for patient care. Ambient temperature measurements at the location of the helicopter base were obtained from the National Climatic Data Center. Temperature ranges were recorded during day shift (8 AM to 4 PM) and night shift (4 PM to 12 AM) during the winter from December 1, 1995, to March 13, 1996, and summer from June 17, 1996, to September 14, 1996. Statistical analysis was performed using chi-square and the Bonferroni-adjusted t-test.

Compared with the winter day period, the winter night period had lower minimum (13.2 degrees C vs 14.7 degrees C, p = 0.003) and maximum (20.3 degrees C vs 21.2 degrees C, p = 0.02) temperatures. Both were below the USP minimum. The summer day period had higher maximum temperatures than the summer night period (31.2 degrees C vs 27.6 degrees C, p = 5 x 10(-9)). The mean daytime summer maximum exceeded the USP upper limit. Storage temperatures outside of the USP range were observed during 49% of winter days, 62% of winter nights, 56% of summer days, and 27% of summer nights. There was a significant tendency for summer days (p = 8 x 10(-8)) and winter nights (p = 0.009) to be outside of the acceptable range. There was moderate correlation between ambient and drug box temperatures (r2 = 0.49).

Medications stored aboard an EMS helicopter are exposed to extremes of temperature, even inside a drug bag. Measures are needed to attenuate storage temperature fluctuations aboard aeromedical helicopters.