Month: October 2010

Pharmacovigilance, what’s in a name

by

I read an interesting discussion about pharmacovigilance (PV) software a few weeks ago on one of the pharmacy listservs I belong to. The conversation struck me as odd because much of it sounded an awful lot like a discussion on clinical decision support (CDS). This led me to wonder whether or not PV and CDS are the same thing, completely different or subsets of one another. I am not familiar with the term PV myself, so I set out to gather some information. And here’s what I found.

Read more

Drug error occurs, but not for the reasons you’d expect

by

I was reading through the most recent issue of the ISMP Medication Safety Alert! and came across an incident where a CLINIMIX E solution was infused on a patient prior to being mixed, resulting in the patient receiving a concentrated dose of amino acids and electrolytes. Fortunately no harm was done. CLINIMIX E is a … Read more

Will the new crop of slate tablets be good for healthcare?

by

I recently read an article in Laptop Magazine about the most anticipated tablets scheduled to hit the market over the next several months. Some things caught my attention.

First, all the tablets listed were slate models and offered a variety of screen sizes. The smallest screen listed was 7 inches, while the largest was listed at 12 inches. Screen size is important to me so I was glad to see that the idea of larger devices wasn’t completely dead. The second thing was the variety of operating systems offered. Windows 7 and Android were prominent, but a couple of the tablet descriptions didn’t include an operating system. Based on the screen shots and a little web surging it appears that some of the devices may use proprietary operating systems. We’ll have to wait and see. And finally, almost all the tablets listed were clearly aimed at the consumer. In fact the only “enterprise” tablet that made the list was the Cisco Cius. The Cius is an interesting device as it will use the Android OS, a smaller 7 inch screen, 802.11n, 3G and 4G, and Bluetooth. I’m sure the company is hoping to leverage its VoIP and data systems against the needs of business users. In my opinion the Cius would provide significant functionality and potential for increased productivity to those businesses that already employ Cisco phone or data services. It makes sense to integrate tablets into a system that already uses the same infrastructure.

The two tablets that were conspicuously absent from the list were the BlackBerry PlayBook and the HP Slate which are both being marketed as enterprise devices. I love the idea of the PlayBook because it offers real-time video conferencing like the Cius and the ability to pair it with a BlackBerry smartphone to access online content. The potential to tether a smartphone to a tablet is quite appealing to me.

Read more

What to do, the case of the unhappy pharmacist

by

I read an article today at the CEO Blog of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) that talks about the predicament of the retail/community pharmacist.

According to the post “Pharmacists feel it when they’re asked to fill hundreds of prescriptions per shift, provide immunizations on demand, make outbound calls to promote adherence with patients and to do so with less technician help because management just saw another big contract pricing level get cut. And pharmacists are feeling less respected as the supply of pharmacists has increased and employers find positions are easier to fill.”

Read more

MedKeeper acquires DoseResponse

by

It looks like MedKeeper is making a play in the therapeutic monitoring market by acquiring DoseResponse, a web-based outpatient anticoagulation management system from Keystone Therapeutics. The press release can be found here.

Outpatient anticoagulation therapy, i.e. warfarin management, became a big deal when JCAHO made it one of their national patient safety goals a few years back. I’m specifically referring to National Patient Safety Goal 3E: Reducing Harm from Anticoagulation Therapy. If you feel like giving yourself a headache you can read through the entire Abulatory Health Care National Patient Safety Goals (PDF). I wouldn’t recommend it.

Read more