Introduction: Maintaining the prescribed temperature and humidity regime during the transport and storage of pharmaceutical products is a core requirement of Good Distribution Practice (GDP) and is directly linked to treatment efficacy and patient safety. Documented cases of potency loss in insulin, vaccines, and moisture-sensitive dosage forms confirm the direct clinical dimension of the problem, and classic passive temperature loggers have recently been complemented by active IoT sensor systems, RFID/NFC tags, and blockchain-integrated platforms, extending monitoring into the patient's home.
Aim: To systematise contemporary technological approaches for monitoring temperature and humidity during the transport of pharmaceutical products, to analyse documented pharmaceutical and clinical consequences of cold-chain disruptions, and to examine the nursing perspective on home storage of medicines.
Materials and Methods: A narrative review of published scientific literature and regulatory documents was conducted, covering cold-chain monitoring devices, sensing and thermal insulation solutions, documented clinical and pharmaceutical problems related to temperature and humidity excursions, and practices for home medication storage.
Results and Conclusion: Four categories of solutions were identified — passive loggers, active IoT systems, RFID/NFC tags, and blockchain platforms — each offering a different balance between accuracy, continuity of recording, cost, and the ability to document compliance with GDP and WHO PQS. Documented clinical consequences for insulin, vaccines, and moisture-sensitive dosage forms are systematised, along with evidence of inappropriate home storage practices and emerging home-monitoring technologies. A trend towards hybrid systems combining continuous logging, alerting, and predictive analytics emerges, consistent with EU regulatory requirements.
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