Jerry Fahrni

As usual there were a lot of things that happened during the week, and not all of it was pharmacy or technology related. Here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I found interesting.

The Final Destination was #1 at the box office last weekend for a second week in a row. “9”  landed in movie theaters Wednesday, 9-9-09. I’m looking forward to seeing it with my girls this weekend.

It’s officially football season. Hallelujah. The season kicked off last night with a Steelers victory over the Titans 13-10 in overtime.

President Obama delivered a speech to Congress this week detailing his health care plan. Information about the speech is all over the internet, but I thought the prepared text of the speech published by the New York Times was interesting.

Our pharmacy went through another Siemens upgrade. That’s all I have to say about that.

My hospital blocked my access to Twitter, friendfeed and Microsoft’s Live Mesh. In addition I can no longer access URL shortening sites like bit.ly, is.gd, etc. They were very thorough.

It looks like Dell has thrown their hat in the EMR ring. According to Healthcare IT News “The Round Rock, Texas-based computer maker [Dell] on Thursday introduced an electronic medical record system for hospital-affiliated physician practices. The intent, said Dell executives, is to accelerate the sharing and meaningful use of digital patient information among hospitals and physician practices.”

Healthcare IT Consultant: “pMDsoft, Inc. today announced the completion of over a dozen more HL7 interfaces with some of the most recognized and popular software systems in the medical industry. pMDsoft’s industry-leading interface engine has allowed it to integrate seamlessly with its customers’ existing software infrastructure, eliminating data entry and increasing the accuracy of their claims. The variety of different interfaces available has taken pMDsoft beyond the limits of charge capture, allowing it to act as an elegant EMR front-end; a mobile practice management system; or a gateway to the local hospital.” – Is this really a great thing? Take a look at the HL7 example below and tell me what you think.

At least one person thinks Apple may be trying to push their way into healthcare. No surprise here, considering that Dell and Microsoft are already involved in the healthcare industry.

ASHP is reporting that early trials of the H1N1 virus look promising.

With all the press surrounding H1N1, the CDC has created a set of interim recommendations for the use of antiviral medications during the 2009-2010 influenza season. For more information follow this link to the official CDC site.

Ever heard of the UnSummit? I hadn’t either until this morning. The UnSummit is an annual conference dedicated to barcode medication administration. I’m adding it to my list of conferences to attend in 2010.

I’ve never been a fan of combining an ARB and an ACE inhibitor in CHF. It just never made sense to me even though it was popular among physicians. Medscape , reporting on the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2009, says that “the combination of angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) and ACE inhibitors should not be used to treat congestive heart failure (CHF), because the benefits do not outweigh the risks, according to the results of a new meta-analysis. Dr Andrea Kuenzli (University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland) reported the findings at the European Society of Cardiology 2009 Congress last week.”

9to5Mac: “In a press release citing a survey of 1,200 US students conducted by higher education-specialist research firm, Student Monitor, Parallels claims more than one third (36%) of full-time undergraduates at four-year US colleges and universities already plan to purchase a Mac.” – I’m not surprised by the results of the survey. Earlier this year I took my youngest daughter on a field trip to UCLA and we noticed a large portion of the student population was carrying Mac laptops.

Palm released its latest phone this week; the Pixi. Here’s a little hands on from the GartenBlog.

Check out the interactive Rock Wall at the Hard Rock Café on the Vegas Strip. I’ll be there in November.

Apple announced new iPod products this week, but to my wife’s utter dismay the new iPod Touch is missing a camera. Just so my wife wouldn’t be alone in her misery, Apple also decided not to announce the new “Apple Tablet”. Bummer.

This from the “who cares” category, the PDR Network is reporting that “The iconic PDR drug reference found in every doctor’s office, hospital, and clinic is merging with the Health Care Notification Network (HCNN), the only network that delivers FDA-required drug Alerts to doctors online.” – There is no drug reference more worthless than the PDR. It’s nothing more than a collection of manufacturer propaganda.

mobihealthnews: “According to survey conducted by MDsearch, 53 percent of physicians who responded to the survey said that they own a smartphone, and of that group 63 percent use mobile medical applications. Curiously though, MDSearch did not explain how many physicians actually took part in the survey or other details — so take the numbers as light reading or simply fodder for future research.” – So, physicians using the most advanced smartphone available, i.e. the iPhone, are using it to access healthcare references. Duh!

Have a great weekend everyone.