eWeek: “Not only did it recently experience a win over disgruntled competitor AT&T, in being allowed to continue airing some cheeky ads, and then enjoy a jump in consumer opinion, but in a Dec. 1 statement, Consumer Reports revealed that Verizon was named the preferred carrier by the people it surveyed in 26 cities for its cell-phone-focused January issue.” – T-Mobile was second, while Sprint and AT&T tied for third. This is consistent with what I’ve heard around the hospital. I was previously assigned a Verizon mobile broadband card. Unfortunately our facility decided to move away from Verizon a couple of weeks ago and go with AT&T and Sprint. I am now using a Sprint 598U Wireless USB Plug and the performance and connectivity are terrible. While in Vegas last week I was unable to connect to the hospital VPN secondary to poor coverage and lack of speed. I couldn’t even check my email. I ended up using the browser on my Droid. My Verizon card never gave me any problems, ever. I spoke with a nurse today in our IT department who was assigned an AT&T mobile broadband card after previously using one from Verizon. Her story was similar to mine; bummer. It looks like I really need to set up my Droid to tether.
Quick Hit – “I don’t see the icon”
Several times on this blog I have discussed the need to advance pharmacy through the use of new and exciting technologies. Yesterday I experienced something that brings light to the reason pharmacy practice is still in the Stone Age, where it may live forever.
We had a minor pharmacy system upgrade yesterday. The system was down for about 45 minutes. Although minor, the upgrade required the removal of the previous version of the pharmacy software prior to installing the new version. Overall the process went smoothly. However, within a few minutes of giving the pharmacists the all clear I began receiving phone call after phone call because the upgrade “didn’t work” and they couldn’t “get into Siemens”. The problem: the install client failed to put the shortcut icon for the pharmacy system on their desktop. Seriously, that’s the problem? Wow!
The “problem” brought the pharmacy to a standstill. So, the next time you talk about carousel technology, automated packaging, or clinical decision support software, remember that many pharmacists still struggle with using a computer; a device that is common in nearly every household in America.
I bet Steve Jobs doesn’t have these problems. ;-)
The tech-check-tech model to improve clinical practice
Earlier this year the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy published “A vision statement by the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology”. The statement represents thoughts on the current state of pharmacy practice and contains a healthy dose of ideas on how technology can help support and improve pharmacy practice.
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