There is an interesting little article in this month’s issue of Hospital Pharmacy (not available online yet – volume 44(5), pp 429-430, May 2009) entitled “The Palm Pre: A Beginning of an Ending?†The author, Brent Fox, has been writing articles on Palm powered devices (PDAs) for several years. In the article he address the upcoming release of the new Palm Pre , a smartphone with slick new hardware and software that is supposed to compete with the iPhone and BlackBerry devices.
Local anesthetic allergies.
This has nothing to do with pharmacy technology, but I thought it would be worth posting. Questions about cross reactivity of one local anesthetic to another don’t come along often, but when they do it’s never easy to formulate a quick answer. Lucky for me I’m an electronic pack-rat and saved a small drug information consult I did a few years ago regarding the issue. Remember, this is for entertainment purposes only. ;-)
Web 2.0, Health 2.0, Medicine 2.0…I bring you Pharmacy 2.0
Spend any length of time around health care related websites and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Words like “Web 2.0”, “Health 2.0” and “Medicine 2.0” are catch phrases being tossed around like socks in a dryer. It’s officially a phase 5/6 pandemic. Here’s a little background to get you started.
“What’d I miss?” -Week of May 4th
As usual there were a lot of things happening this week in healthcare, and not all of it was technology related. Here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I browsed this week: The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP) held their Midyear in Orlando, FL where Todd Eury (Pharmacytechnology.com) fed us timely updates … Read more
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) as a form of EHR
TheHealthCareBlog.com:  “When Harvard Medical School and CareGroup CIO Dr. John Halamka agreed to place his medical information on an RFID chip and have it implanted it in his arm, he triggered an instant global spotlight on this unusual form of portable electronic medical record.  The decision, made in December 2004 and disclosed in early 2005, captured worldwide attention from places a diverse as Fox News, the BBC and the New England Journal of Medicine (where Halamka contributed a commentary ).
As recently as 2007, a debate over chip privacy and safety versus having critical medical data instantly at hand (as it were) was featured in a PLoS Medicine exchange. In it, Halamka asserted, “Implantation of RFID devices is one tool, appropriate for some patients based on their personal analysis of risks and benefits, that can empower patients by serving as a source of identity and a link to a personal health record when the patient cannot otherwise communicate.—
Cool Technology in Pharmacy
The InforMedix Med-eMonitor is an internet enabled medication storage device that sounds musical chimes when it’s time for a patient to take their medication. Coined a “smat pillbox” by the maker it provides dosing instructions to the user and monitors their medication use. According to the website the device offers: – Medication reminders and dosing … Read more
How medical [or pharmacy] students can get into Health IT
Healthcareguy.com: “If you’re a medical [or pharmacy] student who is also interested in information technology, there’s a great way to make both your passions meet and make a career out of it. Healthcare IT is a field that’s growing rapidly, more so with the advent of handheld smart devices that are making the sharing of … Read more
Special report on health care and technology
Economist.com: I’m not sure how I missed this article, but it is a must read for anyone interested in health care and technology. The contents of the special report include: Medicine goes digital Health and information technology Digital medicine Personalised medicine Developing countries and health Micro-technology and health Health 2.0
Back it up, sir. Back it up.
When it comes to backing up data I feel a little like the Featherduster in Beauty and the Beast when she says [to Lumiere]…”I’ve been burnt by you before!”
I have several back-up solutions that I use based on my location. My primary machine at work is a Dell Latitude D520. I prefer a laptop for many reasons and do not have a desktop machine at work. My data is automatically backed up to the network. Because I’ve lived through a couple of hard drive (HD) melt downs, I like to keep an up to date image of my laptop around just in case. A Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 1 TB drive with Norton Ghost does the trick. I get a complete image of my laptop every Thursday at 4:00pm.
Innovations ’09
Siemens Innovations ’09 is being held in the “City of Brotherly Love” this year (i.e. Philadelphia). I received the registration packet in the mail just a few of hours ago. A lot of great minds gather at this meeting to discuss many timely topics. I highly recommend attending. I attended the meeting last year in … Read more