We traveled to the AABB Annual Meeting & CTTXPO in Denver! To read about Part 2 from our trip, click here. For Part 3, click here.
Mountains! Blood! Temperature Monitoring! Bad Movie Puns!
If you guessed from the title of this blog post, Dickson is at the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) Annual Meeting & CTTXPO. Held in the glorious mile-high city of Denver, the 2013 Annual Meeting & CTTXPO is an event for blood bankers to get educated and informed by some of the top influencers in the blood banking world.
I’m the Content Strategist at Dickson, and one of the lucky individuals who was given the opportunity to partake in this little adventure. My accomplice is our International Account Manager Carly, an experienced Trade Show attendee and temperature monitoring guru. Thus far, we've talked talked to current and potentially new customers, mingled with our neighbors, learned about challenges facing blood bankers, and walked around a beautiful city with more cute dogs to pet than the Disney classic 101 Dalmatians. So . . . we’re pretty excited for the final three days.
As Dickson’s new Content Strategist, and someone who is relatively new to the data monitoring world, the AABB’s Annual Meeting & CTTXPO is only the second trade show I've ever attended. Newbie alert! Below I've summarized Carly and I’s first night at the Annual Meeting & CTTXPO, specifically with regards to the environmental challenges facing blood bankers, and the information we gained from talking with trade show attendees.
Day 1: Opening Night of the CTTXPO
Carly and I flew into Denver on Friday night, set up our booth and didn't even come close to breaking the Dickson booth setup time record (this is a real thing) and mentally prepared for Saturday night, when the CTTXPO would commence.
As the sun began to fade on the seemingly always beautiful Colorado horizon, Carly and I walked from our hotel to the Colorado Convention Center. At 5:45 pm, it was on.
The first night, while short (the show closed at 8 PM), provided us some useful feedback as to some of the subtle challenges facing temperature monitoring in the blood banking world.
The most prevalent problem that first night was the transportation of blood. We found blood bankers struggling to find a solution with how to monitor the transportation of blood within and between their facilities. These customer “wants” seemed to be in play:
1. A device that was small enough to fit into coolers.
2. The ability to quickly download and store data to a hospital or blood bank hard drive.
3. And of course . . . 21CR11 Compliance
Some tough challenges to meet for those in the temperature monitoring business. 21CFR11 was cake for us, as all our data loggers are 21CFR11 compliant. The other two need some explanation:
For most of the attendees we talked to, blood was only in transit for a short amount of time. Because of this, a device with GPS and 4G capabilities would seem to be overkill. At the same time, transporting efficiently while having a display on the outside is no easy task. Transportation lends itself to smaller devices, which usually do not have a temperature display on them.
We recommended a few Dickson Products that we felt could meet the customer’s needs. Specifically Dickson’s RL200 (currently in staging) SK550’s, and SP175. You can check out each devices product descriptions on their respective product pages (just click the product SKU’s above!) to see specifically why we selected these models. But it in essence it came down to quick, hassle free downloading of data, with a compact design.
Our first night at the CTTXPO ended much to soon, and we look forward to three more great days. Look out for recaps on the AABB educational sessions Carly and I plan to attend.
Until tomorrow!
Have further questions or comments about monitoring the temperature of blood? Post in the comment section below, or give us a call! Our number is 630-543-3747. We promise we are both witty and friendly.
