Month: August 2009

Cool Technology for Pharmacy

by

ROBOT-Rx® from McKesson is a robotic pharmacy system that automates many of the day to day operations that a technician may perform in a hospital pharmacy, such as medication storage, selection, return, restock, and crediting. From the manufacturer’s site: Every year, more than a half billion medications are dispensed error-free by ROBOT-Rx systems installed in … Read more

UCSF launches prescription help

by

The Business Journal: “The UCSF School of Pharmacy has launched a new service in Fresno to address the urgent need among Central Valley residents and their health care providers for assistance in managing their prescriptions. The service will start scheduling appointments this week and will officially open for in-person patient consultations on Sept. 1. Through the program, … Read more

If the “tablet” is dead, why is everyone talking about it?

by

Anyone that knows me won’t doubt for a second that I’m a fan of the tablet form factor for a computer. I am patiently waiting for the Apple tablet (Mac Tablet, TabPod, iTablet, iPad, AppTab, etc) to arrive, as well as looking forward to test driving Windows 7 on a tablet PC. Tablet PC information on the internet is typically sparse, with little bits of information here and there. The last couple of days however, have seen an explosion in activity.

Read more

One physician’s less than stellar opinion of EMRs

by

The Healthcare IT Guy: “Physicians know that better exists. They have experienced Google, Amazon and e-Bay. Game lovers know that Electronic Arts’ “Tiberium,” now 15 years old, exceeds the capabilities of their professional health care software. They know from Yahoo and MSN the value of configuring a home page suited to delivering niche-information of their … Read more

New drug education

by

Medicine And Technology: “We have seen so many new drugs and even new classes of drugs emerge over the last ten years. How do most physicians learn about new drugs? Many (certainly not all) community practitioners would say they learn what they need to know from the drug reps. Others indicate continuing medical education or … Read more

Meditech Version 6 – Does glitz and glam equal better functionality?

by

EMR Daily News: “A new KLAS report takes a closer look at the latest release of the Meditech electronic medical record (EMR) software and whether it’s a viable solution to help Meditech’s more than 2,000 clinical customers reach the meaningful use threshold. The release of Meditech 6.0 brings with it high expectations for making the software better suited for physician use, which is a key aspect of the federal government’s definition of meaningful use and a traditional weakness of Meditech systems. According to the KLAS report “Meditech Version 6: A Strong Step Forward?”, early adopters of version 6 are reporting positive results, including an improved user interface and easier navigation, but many obstacles still stand in the way of widespread adoption. “Meditech has long struggled with deep CPOE adoption, and version 6 is geared toward addressing that gap,” said Jason Hess, KLAS general manager of clinical research and author of the Meditech report. “However, several issues will likely impact how quickly version 6 is rolled out to the Meditech customer base.”

Read more

A failure modes and effects analysis on bar code medication administration

by

Over the past several months I’ve been involved with a committee tasked with performing a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) on our bedside scanning initiative. An FMEA is a procedure for analyzing potential failure modes within a system and classifying those potential failures by frequency and severity. The failure modes can be actual or potential. It’s a way to plan for holes in the system before they actually develop, and can be quite useful in creating possible solutions for future problems. Being proactive is always easier than being reactive, I think.

Read more