Storage temperatures of medications on an air medical helicopter

Introduction: The safety and efficacy of medications stored on air medical helicopters may be adversely affected by extreme temperatures. The purpose of this study was to determine whether temperatures inside an air medical helicopter drug box were within the U.S. Pharmacopeia recommendations for controlled room temperature. This is defined as a temperature between 15° and 30° C (59° and 86° F) with a mean kinetic temperature of less than 25° C (77° F). An additional goal was to determine whether time/temperature indicator labels can reliably monitor mean kinetic temperatures.