Jerry Fahrni

Pharmacy Informatics and Technology

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Category Archives: Mobile Computing

Evernote update for Android is awesome

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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I received an update for Evernote today on my Galaxy Nexus. And let me just say that it’s awesome. I use Evernote all the time. It’s one of the few services I pay for because it’s the best method I’ve found for collecting notes; all kids of notes. I use it to clip web pages on my tablets (all of them) as well as my smartphone, take hand written notes, collaborate with others via shared notebooks, take audio notes, store journal articles in PDF format, and so on. It’s easy to organize my notes because of the familiar tag system that Evernote uses. Simply put, Evernote is indispensable.

The biggest change with the Evernote update is the user interface. The home page is easy to use and intuitive. In addition it lets you swipe out a hidden menu just off the screen to the right to get to your notes. The navigation is more “swipe friendly” and I like it. It’s really quite slick.
Read more …

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: Android, Cool Stuff, Smartphone

News flash, not all docs happy with iPad in the hospital setting

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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Palmdoc Chronicles: “It looks as if most doctors and nurses would rather not touch the iPad at work (or deal with any other kind of tablet computing). They certainly won’t be making it their go-to device. “We had some instances where physicians wanted iPads – thought they wanted them – borrowed them, used them for a few days and returned them,” said Kirk Larson, a vice president and chief information officer at Children’s Hospital Central California, who spoke at the Healthcare Information Transformation conference in Jacksonville, Florida.” – This article caught my attention because I used to work at the facility mentioned in the article (Children’s Hospital Central California). The actual content isn’t really a big deal. Unlike hats, one size doesn’t necessarily fit all when it comes to tablets. Slate tablets really aren’t designed for data input. I ran into this problem nearly two years ago when the hospital I was working for at the time rolled out iPads to the pharmacists. Within a couple of weeks they were asking for their convertibles back (Dell XT2 tablet PCs).

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: iPad, mHealth, Mobile Healthcare

Android App: Tarascon Prescriber’s Essentials

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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I never had much use for the Tarascon Pharmacopoeia, but I got a lot of mileage out of the Johns Hopkins ABX Guide.

From Google Play: Tarascon Prescriber’s Essentials

The Prescriber’s Essentials Android App is a combination of the award-winning Tarascon Pharmacopoeia and the Johns Hopkins POC-IT Center ABX Guide, now available for your Android device.

This must-have resource contains vital information on thousands of drugs and antimicrobials to help clinicians make better decisions at the point-of-care.

Prescriber’s Essentials Features Include:

  • Convenient and quick portable access on your Android device
  • Continuous drug updates for 12 months
  • A fully integrated tool for multiple drug interaction checking
  • 47 invaluable drug reference tables and 15 dynamic calculators
  • Extensive pediatric drug dosing
  • Anti-microbial agents
  • Infectious diseases
  • Commonly-encountered pathogens

 

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: Android, Drug information

Telerounding with an iPad at Henry Ford Hospital

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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PRWeb:

The surgeon and his patient are actually 25 miles apart in two different hospitals, each armed with an iPad equipped with the live video chat software FaceTime.

Through face-to-face video calls on iPads and other tablets, Henry Ford is initiating the next wave of high-tech communication at hospitals called “telerounding.”

“Patients are looking for us to use current technology in a way that improves their care, and ‘telerounding’ with the iPad really fits that need in enhancing the communication and care following surgery.”

The iPad fills a critical need for Henry Ford surgeons like Dr. Rogers – who perform operations each week at both Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital – to communicate with their patients in the clinic or inpatient setting, even when they’re not in the same city.

Previously, the surgeon would call the patient on the phone if he wasn’t on site. By replacing a phone call with a video-chat on the iPad, patients are able to have a personal and confidential conversation with their surgeon.

I love this concept. I talked to a pharmacy director at the end of last year that was doing something similar with the iPad for patient medication consultation at the time of discharge. Discharge medications were filled by the pharmacy and delivered to the patient’s bedside by a pharmacy technician toting an iPad. If the patient desired consultation with a pharmacist the technician fired up FaceTime. Cool use of technology.

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: Cool Stuff, Mobile Healthcare, Telemedicine

AJHP optimized for mobile access

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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Looks like the little elves over at AJHP have been busy making their journal easier to access from mobile devices. That’s pretty cool. I spent a few minutes playing around with the site on my Nexus and it worked well. I was able to pull up Implementing smart pumps for epidural infusions in an academic medical center and read through it without any major obstacles. The only recommendation I have for AJHP would be to make the process of logging in easier. The optimized site bounces you to the full blown web page for login. Overall, well done.

 

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: AJHP, mobile pharmacy, Smartphone

Physician shares thoughts on using tablet PC in the field

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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Mobile Healthc Computing.com: “Dr. R. Dale Walker, from the Cherokee Tribe of Oklahoma, is a professor of Psychiatry, Public Health and Preventive Medicine as well as the director of the Center for American Indian Education and Research at Oregon Health and Science University and director of the One Sky Center.

… “When out in the field, you want to eliminate as many things that could go wrong as possible, and the J3500 Tablet PC does just that with its battery life, ruggedness, power and performance,” said Dr. Walker. “Consumer tablets just can’t compute like the Windows®-based Motion Tablet PCs, and who wants to carry around multiple systems when you have everything you need in one device?”

According to Dr. Walker, using the J3500 Tablet PC is just like taking notes on paper, but much more efficient. An hour’s worth of notes can be converted to text and emailed out in just minutes. “The ability to capture information, report back on my findings and share knowledge in near real time is an invaluable capability,” said Dr. Walker.

The tablet serves as a desktop replacement or portable library, helping Dr. Walker look up, verify or access educational tools on the fly, which proves extremely valuable considering the often remote locations of the communities. The access to information also reduces the amount of time spent on each subject, meaning more time to cover more topics. “It’s giving them the gift of information,” said Dr. Walker.”

The article reads a bit like a propaganda piece from Motion Computing, but I agree with pretty much all the highlights. I’ve been a fan of the Motion J3500 for a while. I’ve written about it before and stand by my opion. The only negative to the device is the price tag. In this day of inexpensive consumer tablets it’s difficult to swallow the price tag, which is a staggering $2-3K. You get a lot for your money, but it’s still hard to swallow.

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: Mobile Healthcare, Motion Computing, Tablet PCs

The insidious nature of ignorance and my curiosity

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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There’s been a Tweet flowing through my Twitter stream for a few days now and I’ve avoided clicking on the link because I knew it would be something totally ridiculous, misleading and meaningless. Unfortunately it was a quiet Sunday morning, and while I sipped my coffee and waited for the rest of my household to come to life, I succumbed to human nature and clicked the link.

Grrr! I knew it. Something totally ridiculous, misleading and meaningless. What was I thinking? Why do I torture myself this way? One can only speculate.

Read more …

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: Bad, Mobile Access, Random thought

ASHP announces eBooks and official iPad app

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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This is pretty cool. I’m a bit disappointed that ASHP didn’t have the foresight to build an Android version at the same time, but at least it’s something.

image

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: iPad, mobile pharmacy

Android app updates for Medscape Mobile

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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Taken from an email I received informing me of the changes. Overall it looks like a pretty solid update.

Read more …

Categories: Mobile Computing, Therapeutics | Tags: Android, Drug information, mobile pharmacy

Look at the Transformer Prime with keyboard dock

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Jerry Fahrni
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Nice little review of the Transformer Prime (TFP) hardware at GigaOM. Make sure to check the game play at around 7:55 in the video. The reviewer plugs an Xbox 360 controller into the USB slot on the keyboard dock and uses it to play Shadow Run. How cool is that. 

I really think the hybrid design of the TFP is ideal for many situations, especially for those people that truly want to carry a single device. As much as I like tablets I find that I still need a keyboard for any significant data entry chores, whether it be with a spreadsheet, word processor, etc.

I would really like to see tablet PC manufacturers like Lenovo and Samsung do something similar, i.e. a keyboard dock that increases battery life and folds into a laptop style portfolio with the tablet docked. My dream machine would be a Samsung Series 7 Slate with a laptop dock similar to the TFP. It doesn’t appear that Samsung is interested in such a docking solution, but I’m hopeful that a third party will take the hint and do it anyway.

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: Android, Cool Stuff, Tablets
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