Smartphones Can Monitor Medical Center Pneumatic Tube Systems

[摘要] To the Editor:The pneumatic tube system (PTS) has become a common means of transportation of specimens in medical centers. Although the PTS provides convenience and speed of transport, hemolysis of blood specimens and preanalytical variation have been related to excessive acceleration forces and prolonged time/distance traveled in the PTS (1–5). As a result, regular assessment of 3-axis acceleration (i.e., forces) in PTSs has been recommended in an article in this journal (5). An editorial related to that article suggested that products designed for PTS assessment may become commercially available and capable of recording g -forces in PTSs (2). To date, however, we have found no products that are available in the US designed to record forces in the PTS used in our health system (Swisslog).Many modern smartphones are equipped with an accelerometer that measures acceleration forces. The devices also contain a chronometer, and they are nearly ubiquitous and are portable, …

[学科分类] 过敏症与临床免疫学