One feature of AccuVax ES is the detection of vaccines in the load tray that the unit is not expecting to see after a dispense (called “Unknown Vaccines”). The feature’s related notifications help ensure that these instances are reviewed by a human, ensuring vaccines don’t become lost in the AccuVax & creating inventory issues.
Reviewing Unknowns
When an Unknown vaccine is detected, the AccuVax flags the storage location as potentially containing a vaccine and sends a notification via email and/or text (depending on whether and how you subscribe to alert notifications about inventory).
Reviewing and resolving unknowns on the AccuVax takes 3 easy steps:
- Log into the unit and tap Inventory, then View.
- On the Inventory screen you’ll see a Needs Review card; tap it.
- An automatic workflow will then begin where the unit picks the boats flagged as needing review, and presents them in the unit’s load tray. You may find vaccines in the boats and can remove them & re-load, or if the boats are empty you can confirm that they’re empty. Either will resolve the Unknowns.
Root Causes
The situation can occur for multiple reasons. Below are the common reasons and what they mean.
Human error on Dispense
Symptom: You review unknowns on the unit, and unexpected vaccines show up in the load tray
Typical cause: When staff members use an AccuVax there are opportunities to make mistakes. Some of those mistakes can involve placing or removing items from the load tray. The two most common examples we’ve seen are due to:
- Changing their minds & putting a vaccine back in the tray right before the door closes
- Tapping the screen to confirm all items are removed when there are still vaccines in the tray
Action: Look at the MyAccuSite portal’s Inventory Activity from when the Unknown vaccines were logged to see what transaction happened, with what user, etc. This can help you see if there are clinic workflow issues.
Human error on Load (particularly M-M-R II)
Symptom: You review unknowns on the unit, all locations come up empty, *and* the notifications you receive mention M-M-R II.
Typical cause: Fridge vaccines such as M-M-R II that have diluent vials can be loaded in the AccuVax ES in two ways: with the diluent loaded in the boat next to the vaccine, or stored separately (e.g. in a cabinet or drawer). When loading these vaccines, the clinician makes a choice of where the diluent will be stored as shown in the screenshot below:
If the person loading stores the diluent separately but does not check the box indicating this, it will create an issue at dispense.
At dispense time, the vial sensors are expecting two items (vaccine + diluent) to be removed from the boat, but only detect one item being removed (because the diluent isn’t there). Because of this, the unit thinks there might still be something in the boat and records an Unknown to prompt human review.
Action: Double-check how fridge vaccines with diluents are being loaded versus what choices are made by tapping the AccuVax screen. If you have doubts as to prior loads, you can remove and re-load vaccines like M-M-R II to ensure it’s done correctly.
Vial sensor issues
Symptom: You review unknowns on the unit, all locations com up empty, and the notifications for the unknowns indicate multiple different types of vaccines, including those that don't have diluent.
Typical cause: The sensors that detect vaccines in the load tray can go out of adjustment over time & not cleanly detect whether a vaccine is removed from the tray or not. Aside from seeing Unknown vaccines, staff might observe the sensors not registering when vaccines are placed into or removed from the load tray, individual sensors flickering on and off when a vaccine is in the load tray, etc.
Action: The sensors can be recalibrated by TruMed Support remotely in less than 5 minutes, which typically restores good operation. Please contact us at 844-878-6331, or email us at support@trumedsystems.com