.

.

I like the look of the device, but only official reviews will tell me if the it’s any good. I’m concerned that the 7 inch screen might be too small, but this is consistent with recent tablet designs like the Cisco Cius and rumors of a new 7 inch Apple iPad. For me it makes more sense to design a tablet about the size of a standard legal pad, but there must be something to this 7 inch design as I assume manufacturers don’t waste their time and money on baseless design. I would really like to get my hands on this device.

- I’ve mentioned Pixel Qi technology many, many times on this blog. I still don’t know when we will see a commercial product using the technology, but according to Engadget the Pixel Qi 10.1-inch display can be purchased as a kit and placed in your netbook if you’re up to the challenge. Cool, I love weekend projects. Update: The first batch of Pixel Qi kits is sold out. Bummer.

- In a press release on July 1, HP announced that they have completed their acquisition of Palm. This is very exciting news as it means the WebOS isn’t quite dead yet. And here’s the best part, “Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.” Let’s hope it doesn’t take too long to develop a slate PC using the WebOS.

- TUAW: “Oklahoma State University is the latest school to start setting students up with iPads. Starting this fall, a pilot program will give iPads to 125 students, and the university will monitor both how the device affects their learning and what their textbook costs turn out to be.” – It was bound to happen sooner or later. I wonder if any pharmacy schools will start “recommending” that their students purchase an iPad. It happened with the iPhone/iPod Touch. I suppose I can see the logic with a decision like this as the iPad really does make a nice device for carrying around thousands of pages of text in a compact package. In addition, it is well suited for video learning as well as entertainment, which we all know college students need. You can find more information on the pilot program here.

- From the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association “The results of our study [looking at scope, completeness, and accuracy of information found on osteosarcoma in Wikipedia] demonstrate that the quality of osteosarcoma-related information found in the English Wikipedia is good but inferior to the patient information provided by the NCI. Therefore, non-peer-reviewed commonly used websites offering health information, such as Wikipedia, should include links to more definitive sources, such as those maintained by the NCI and professional international organizations on healthcare treatments.” – I’ve said it before many times, Wikipedia is not a good resource for healthcare information.

- According to EMR Daily News financial incentives provided by the stimulus package should help boost the use of handheld computers in the healthcare industry. This makes sense as everyone is trying to figure out a way to go paperless. The only real way to do that is to go mobile , and that’s where smartphones, tablet PCs and devices like the iPad come in. The information at EMR Daily News is from a report at Kalorama Information called “Handhelds in Healthcare: The World Market for PDAs, Tablet PCs, Handheld Monitors & Scanners.” If you want to read the entire report it can be yours for the low, low price of $3995. Anyone just happen to have an extra copy lying around? No. Didn’t think so.

- Amazon has a new version of the Kindle DX . It’s available for pre-order now and should ship sometime around July 7. The new DX looks pretty snazzy. I’ve always liked the Kindle DX because it has a large screen, free 3G for downloading books, is easy on the eyes and only needs to be charged about once a week. I’m considering it.

- At least one person believes the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad can exist in harmony. According to Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com “It’s really a different product category”. I would agree.

- “Shouldn’t we have have a single set of evidence-based rules that everyone in the country can use?” – John D. Halamka, MD, Life As A Healthcare CIO blog. Halamka is speaking specifically about rules designed for clinical decision support (CDS) systems. The simple answer is yes, we should have a single set of rules that everyone can use. According to the post, Anvita Health is working on a solution. ASHP has a similar initiative in one of their Pharmacy Informatics Section Advisory Groups (SAG). CDS systems are important pieces of technology that are often overlooked in the overall scheme of things.

- Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) is taking a beating lately. Healthcare IT News is reporting that a 2010 report from KLAS “finds that only 14 percent of all U.S. hospitals have achieved the expected 10 percent CPOE level required for stage 1 of meaningful use.” And John Poikonen over at RxInformatics posted on a report from The Leapfrog Group that “The simulations found that the hospitals’ CPOE systems on average failed to detect half of the routine medication orders and one-third of potentially fatal orders.” Look, it’s pretty simple. Build a crappy system and you’ll get crappy results. Build a great system and you’ll get great results. So, don’t build crappy system.

- If you want to know what’s going on with Android based devices be sure to check out Android Central. The site has lots of good information, including a podcast.

- Here’s neat video: The Apple Museum – 30 years in 2 minutes. The laptop development is particularly interesting.

- “It’s fun to watch the Android crowd talk about how stupid the iPhone crowd is, it really is. But, the iPhone is still the better consumer device.” Opinion from my brother, Robert, a true Apple fanboy. If you want to see what the average Apple fanboy mentality is watch this video on YouTube. Caution, the language in the video is pretty bad and there are lots of “f-bombs”.

- Speaking of the EVO vs. iPhone 4 video, it looks like the kid that made it might lose his job over the whole thing. Apparently the kid works at Best Buy and they didn’t like what he had to say. I’ve watched the video several times and can’t find a single reference to Best Buy. That just doesn’t seem right. Boo to you Best Buy.

- The official YouTube blog has a great article on Flash and the HTML5 video tag. It’s a very interesting read.

- CrunchGear has a basic review of the Viliv N5 Ultra Mini Mobile PC. This a great looking little device. Many people think I’m crazy, but the mini-clamshell design is something that’s needed. It fills a niche that the HP Jornada 720 series and the NEC MobilePro 900 series had cornered many years ago. Nothing beats a keyboard for text input.

- I don’t often use this blog to express my personal thoughts, but I think it is necessary today. So please feel free to skip this paragraph if you’re here for my normal rhetoric. On a serious note, my grandpa passed away this week after a short battle with cancer. He would have been 83 years old today, July 2, and he will be missed more than you can imagine. He was my father figure for the most impressionable years of my life as I was raised by him and my grandma due to some unfortunate circumstances. He taught me to love God, family and country and everything else would take care of itself. These lessons weren’t given in word, but in action and I try to live by them every day as he did. He always gave of himself, even at the end. His life should be celebrated as he touched more lives than one could have thought possible and had a positive impact on everyone that ever had the pleasure of meeting the man. We could all learn something from him. He was a tough man, but not hard. A heavy equipment mechanic and welder his entire life, he continued to work until just a few weeks prior to his death. You just can’t keep a good man down, which he demonstrated over and over again throughout his life. Someone told me last night that I was blessed to have had him as long as I did. I couldn’t agree more.

Have a great 4th of July everyone and be safe. Eat lots off BBQ and ice cream and have fun.

- Toy Story 3 was #1 at the boxoffice last weekend. That’s no surprise. Everyone I’ve spoken with that saw it said it was good. I’m looking forward to seeing it this weekend. Las weekend my family and I took in The A-Team . I thought it was well done.

- Engadget: “The low-power color and monochrome screens are shown looking at least as good in the wild as they do in captivity, and when placed next to a traditional LCD (in the laptop on the right) the difference is clear.” – They’re talking about the Liquiavista display. Along with Pixel Qi and Mirasol, the Liquavista screen technology allows full sunlight viewability while offering very little power consumption. I’ve heard about these technologies for over a year now, but have yet to see them in a commercially available product. I’m getting restless.

- Take a look at the Toshiba Libretto W100 dual-screen clamshell.  I’ve seen the concept before with the MSI dual-screen tablet, but neither machine is available for purchase yet. I was alerted to the Libretto via a video over at the Scobleizer website. Neat technology, but how practical is the design? I’m not convinced that this is the way to go. At least not for me anyway.

- Kinect for the Xbox 360 is a new video game motion controller from Microsoft. It’s supposed to be available sometime in November, but you can try it out now at one of the four Microsoft Stores in the United States: Scottsdale, AZ, Mission Viejo, CA, Lone Tree, CO and San Diego, CA. Mission Viejo is only about four and a half hours from me, while San Diego is about 6 hours. San Diego may be a nicer place to spend a weekend with the family though. Who’s up for a road trip?

- How about a pin-up calendar from a manufacturer of medical image displays. I suppose you could consider these images risqué  if you were a radiologist.

- Medical News Today: “Cephalon, Inc., (Nasdaq: CEPH) announced that it has partnered with the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA) and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) to broaden the company’s When Good Medicines Become Bad DrugsSM program. This national education campaign provides patients, caregivers and the public with information about the abuse of prescription medications that affects as many as six million Americans and now surpasses the national use of most illegal “street drugs.”

- MobileCrunch offers a good look at the new Motorola Droid X complete with pictures and video. Check it out, that’s one cool smartphone.

- medGadget: “Researchers at Harvard have created programmable self-assembling DNA nanodevices. The devices consist of a single-stranded DNA molecule that together with pieces of complementary DNA self-assembles into a 3D nanodevice. “ That’s some seriously cool, and scary technology. According to Don Ingber, co-investigator and director of the Wyss Institute “This new self-assembly based nanofabrication technology could lead to nanoscale medical devices and drug delivery systems, such as virus mimics that introduce drugs directly into diseased cells,” – The entire press release can be found here.

- Soft Sailor Technology News and Reviews: “RIM is doing fine on the smartphone market as the company has shipped its one hundred millionth device in the past quarter. The company sold 11.2 million BlackBerry smartphones which represents a 43% increase from last year.” – I think the death of RIM has been grossly overstated.

- If you’re interested in cloud computing make sure to check out the GigaOM site covering Structure 2010. Structure 2010 was a conference at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco focusing on cloud computing. GigaOM has some great video.

- The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), in collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is offering an online resource to help physicians gain access to investigational drugs for seriously ill patients that are out of options. Access to the resource is free and can be found at the ASCO website.

- Check out Flash 10.1 on Android 2.2. – Neat!

- I’ve mentioned GlowCaps before. A little blurb over at mobihealthnews is reporting that “Partners Healthcare’s Center for Connected Health announced that Vitality’s GlowCap service raised medication adherence rates 27 percent for a group of hypertensive patients.” I’d like to read the “study” for myself and get more information. Until I have details I have to look at things like this with a skeptical eye.

- If you want to see how rugged tablet PCs are used in real life, then scoot on over to the GottaBeMobile site. They have a great write up on how the Red Bull NASCAR racing team is using the MobileDemand xTablet T7000’s to help them do pretty much everything. After watching the videos and reading the post I had to hang my head in shame. NASCAR technology is kicking the crud out of anything we’re doing in healthcare. Disgraceful.

- Fast Company: “Cigarette companies can no longer lure the young with claims of “light,” “mild,” “medium,” or “low.” And candy-flavored cigarettes have officially been banned as part of the larger Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act.” I don’t think mock tobacco or alcohol of any kind should be marketed toward kids. Period. In addition I don’t think pharmacies should sell alcohol or tobacco of any kind. Period.

- Life As A Healthcare CIO recently posted an article about standards for discharge summaries. It’s a very short post, but mentions the HL7 implementation guide for discharge summaries and gives a link to a sample discharge summary using the HL7 style sheet. It’s a nice layout, but something really troubles me about the hospital discharge medications section. The medication list is incomplete. It lists the medication and the sig, but not the route nor indication. Why is that? Maybe @omowiazard can help me understand that.

- Windows Live Essentials beta is available. Microsoft is really starting to rev things up in the the cloud. I highly recommend you check out what they have to offer if you haven’t already.

- I really enjoy reading what Warner Crocker has to say over at GottaBeMobile. He never disappoints, and this week was no different. He writes briefly about what system he uses to keep his data synced between the cloud and multiple machines. He also asks others to “Sound off in the comments and let us know what syncing services you use for your data. Tell us your reasons and how the service works for you. Tell us what you’d like to see happen differently.” There are some great comments that provide valuable information. Of course I added my thoughts.

- Just in case you didn’t know, the oil spill catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico just keeps getting worse. I saw a BP commercial on TV last night explaining how dedicated they were to seeing this thing through to the end and “making it right”. I wanted to throw my laptop at the TV. I don’t often condone violence, but I’m just about there.

- Just so we don’t have to leave on such a downer, here’s a funny little video:

Have a great weekend everyone.

“…you might not be aware of the newest addition for Android® smartphones: Lexi-CALC™!

Lexi-CALC includes 65 medical calculators designed to assist you in addressing dosing, drug conversions, infusion rates, pharmacokinetics and more.

Purchase any Lexi-Comp® handheld product for your Android smartphone today and get 25% off! Take advantage of this special discount offer in celebration of the Lexi-CALC release!”

The 25% discount is nothing to shake a stick at as purchasing Lexi-Comp drug information databases can add up quickly. Lexi-CALC does not appear to be a stand alone application, but shows up as one of the databases in several of their packages.

iPhone version

Created with consumers in mind, the iPhone application delivers information about OTC products using the barcode located on the medication package. Users simply type in the numbers on the barcode and receive a picture of the medication along with important drug facts.

By simply touching the picture of the medication, a screen will appear where users can view the medicine’s active ingredients, warning, dosage information, and comparable generic products.

To compare multiple medications users can touch “Check Interaction” located on the main screen. A green check means the OTC medications are ok to take at the same time; a red stop sign means you should not take the medications together and consult with a pharmacist.

Android OS version

The Medilyzer Android Application is very intuitive and easily navigated. To enter anOTC medication, simply touch the “Scan Medication” button. This button activates the camera and the barcode is captured using an easy point and shoot method.

When the product barcode correctly appears in the window, the phone will blink green then display the name of the scanned medication. Users can view information such as product warnings and comparable generic products.

To check OTC drug interactions simply touch “Scan Medication” once more to learn if two OTC can be taken at the same time.

I find it interesting that you can scan the bar code image on the Android version of the software, but have to manually enter the UPC code on the iPhone. I wonder if it has anything to do with the quality of the cameras on the devices or if it is an issue with actual operating system? Anyway, I loaded both my DROID and iPhone with Medilyzer and took it for a test run.

The Android version had difficulty scanning bar codes on any surface other than the flat side of a box. In other words I couldn’t get it to scan bar codes on bottles. When it did pick up the bar code image the software worked as advertised. On the iPhone everything went smoothly. The only issue I have with the iPhone version is the need to manually enter the UPC.

In theory Medilyzer is a great application and has tremendous potential for consumer safety, but I can’t recommend it for Android devices because of the extreme difficulty I had getting a clean scan off surfaces that weren’t completely smooth and flat. The iPhone version works fine if you don’t mind entering the UPC code by hand.

- Iron Man 2 was #1 at the box office last weekend. My family and I saw it last Friday. I thought it was a great movie, not as good as the first, but definitely a great movie. If you haven’t seen it, make sure you stay until the very end when you do.

- How about a Shrek ebook for the iPad? Seems appropriate since Shrek Forever After opens this weekend. Video below.

- Software Advice: “We’re hearing more and more questions about Mac compatibility from physicians interested in electronic medical records (EMR systems). Many providers, notably smaller offices, are choosing Apple computers over PC-based systems to run their practice. Their reasons are the same reasons consumers choose Mac products: stability, simplicity and “coolness.”” - It looks like Apple is really starting to make its way into healthcare. The success of the iPad and speedy adoption among healthcare professionals is testament to it. The article above goes on to describe EMR systems available for the Mac platform.

- Earlier this week I posted on the new Motion Computing tablet PCs. One of the readers of the post pointed out that although the battery life on the new C5v was improved it was still only around four hours. While it’s true that current tablet PC battery life is poor, it’s only a matter of time before tablet PC and Android tablet makers are forced into building devices with at least eight hours of battery life. Based on the Wind U160DX netbook by MSI with a reported battery life of 15 hours, and the Toughbook C1 at 10 hours, things are looking up.

- Android 2.2, a.k.a. Froyo, looks pretty exciting. Learn more about it at Engadget.

- This is interesting. The MSI SketchBook looks like an ordinary laptop, but the keyboard flips over to reveal a pen driven graphics tablet. Neat.

- When will people learn that you should never, ever store confidential patient information on laptops. Earlier this week FierceMobileHealthcare reported that “The Department of Veterans Affairs said that a laptop stolen from an unspecified contractor’s car April 22 contained unencrypted, personally identifiable information of about 644 veterans.” – The solution: storing data in the cloud.

- GottaBeMobile: “Using what they call ITSO (Integrated Through Screen Optics) Sensing Technology, their [Evoluce ONE] surface computing system can recognize and respond to objects up to one meter from the screen. The demo video (below) shows three-dimensional manipulation of large on-screen objects. No fine manipulation shown and I’d guess the precision is less than direct touch, but adding the third dimension of depth opens some terrific possibilities.” – This is amazing technology that I can see getting some use in healthcare. I’ve decided that I not only want one of these, but I need one. I started collecting pennies last night. <smile>

- RxInformatics has an interesting post on the the recent bar-code technology article in the New England Journal of Medicine. The post includes the Podcast audio from an interview with Eric Poon, the lead author of the study. Interesting stuff. Make sure you take a few minutes to listen to it.

- In the no-duh category, results from a trial in The Annals of Pharmacotherpy May 11 issue shows that “Implicit measurement of actual inappropriate prescribing predicted ADE risk, an important clinical outcome. This finding helps confirm the validity of prior studies that have relied on explicit measures to link potentially inappropriate prescribing to adverse health outcomes. “ - The article addresses the use of drugs on the Beers list in elderly veterans.

- SciGuy’s: “New Milestone in Optic Technology Allows better Data Transmissions – Using optical-fibre-optic cables, Alfred Leitenstorfer’s group at the University of Konstanz in Germany has found a way to boost data transmission significantly.  By reducing the amount of light needed to represent a 1 or 0, binary transmissions can be sent with higher efficiency.” – Will this be the answer to bigger and faster data transfer in the future? I hope so because it would mean better access to centralized data storage.

- You sometimes forget how much information you digest on a weekly bases. Like all people in my profession I get bombarded with information at a rate that I can’t possibly handle, and the stack of articles “to read” is always larger than the stack of “read”. Anyway, below are some items I read this week that you might find interesting as well. Some are freely accessible, while others require subscription. I apologize for the ones that require a log-in or paid subscription, but I am fortunate to have access to a medical librarian. It’s like magic, I just say “Hey Karen, I need blah, blah, blah” and poof, it shows up in my inbox. Enjoy:

1. Ketelhut DJ, Nelson BC, Clarke J, Dede C. A multi-user virtual environment for building and assessing higher order inquiry skills in science. British Journal of Educational Technology. 2010;41(1):56-68.

2. Caruba T, Colombet I, Gillaizeau F, et al. Chronology of prescribing error during the hospital stay and prediction of pharmacist’s alerts overriding: a prospective analysis. BMC Health Services Research. 2010;10(1):13.

3. Poon EG, Keohane CA, Yoon CS, et al. Effect of bar-code technology on the safety of medication administration. N. Engl. J. Med. 2010;362(18):1698-1707.

4. Poon EG, Cusack CM, McGowan JJ. Evaluating Healthcare Information Technology Outside of Academia: Observations from the National Resource Center for Healthcare Information Technology at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2009;16(5):631-636.

5. Ryzner KL. Evaluation of Aminoglycoside Clearance Using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Equation Versus the Cockcroft-Gault Equation as a Marker of Glomerular Filtration Rate. Ann Pharmacother. 2010;44(6):1030-1037.

6. Williams D. Medication errors. J R Coll Physicians Ednib. 2007;37:343-346. (PDF)

7. Forni A, Chu HT, Fanikos J. Technology utilization to prevent medication errors. Curr Drug Saf. 2010;5(1):13-18. (PDF http://www.omnicell.com/Resources/Reprints/Technology-Utlization-to-Prevent-Medication-Errors.pdf)

8. Leape L, Berwick D, Clancy C, et al. Transforming healthcare: a safety imperative. Qual Saf Health Care. 2009;18(6):424-428. (http://qshc.bmj.com/content/18/6/424.long)

9. Asamoah AK, Sharfstein JM. Transparency at the Food and Drug Administration. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010. Available at: http://healthcarereform.nejm.org/?p=3440&query=OF [Accessed May 19, 2010].

10. 1. Amarasingham R, Plantinga L, Diener-West M, Gaskin DJ, Powe NR. Clinical Information Technologies and Inpatient Outcomes: A Multiple Hospital Study. Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(2):108-114.

11. Design Guidance – Displaying Adverse Drug Reaction Risk. This is a very interesting document prepared by Microsoft. I’ve read through it before, but stubble upon it while I was looking for another article in my files. It’s worth taking the time to browse through.

As mentioned by the authors in the article the currently available pharmacy-related applications are limited when compared to devices like the iPhone, but the numbers are growing. Drug information resources like Lexi-Comp, Skyscape and ePocrates are now available for use on the DROID as well as some medical references like Merck Medicus, Unboud Medicine and UpToDate (via mobile browser). Unfortunately I don’t have a list of available medical applications for the Android operating system nor do I know of a site that does, but the popularity of the Android operating system is growing and it’s only a matter of time before other medical references start popping up.

One piece of advice in the article that I found interesting was to “begin by selecting the telecommunication service that is most reliable and has the best connectivity coverage for voice and data in the community where you live.” Imagine that, selecting a mobile phone that first and foremost keeps you connected. I’ll make sure to keep that in mind the next time I feel the need to purchase another smartphone. Then again maybe I won’t. I guess that depends on how badly I want the device.

- Shutter Island was #1 at the box office last weekend. My wife and I saw it last Friday. She liked it quite a bit while my thoughts on it were lukewarm. To me a movie is good if I would walk right back into the theater and watch it a second straight time, like I did with Star Wars back in the 70′s. Shutter Island wasn’t like that. So there you go, take it for what it’s worth.

- HIMSS 2010 was held in Atlanta this week. I wasn’t ablet to attend, but still managed to get some great information by following various FriendFeed and Twitter feeds. I’m definitely attending next year.

- There’s a great “Best and Worst of HIMSS Wrapup” at the EMR and HIPAA website. And here’s the flip side at the HISTALK website: “The emphasis was on money and business rather than patients for the most part (my low point: a session that rattled off dozens of government grant programs from ARRA right on down, which reminded me of that seedy guy with the Free Government Grants infomercial).”

- KevinMD.com has a great list of free iPhone apps aimed at physicians. There are a lot of lists like this floating around the ‘net, but it’s always nice to have another. The problem is trying to figure out which applications to use and which ones to dump. You can’t use them all, believe me I’ve tried.

- The Healthcare IT Guy has an interesting article on how the EMR industry can learn from the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) industry. According to the article the CRM industry has made great strides in developing their model based on previous failures. The parallels between the current EMR industry and the CRM industry prior to maturing are very interesting. The Healthcare IT Guy states “with the lessons learned from the CRM industry , and armed with the expert guidance, you can adopt an EMR that can probably meet your financial and healthcare objectives.” Take a minute to read the entire post, it’s worth the time.

- Rumors are surfacing again regarding Microsoft’s Courier tablet. According to electronista.com “The book-like device has had more concrete hardware details and should be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 250 and should be relatively portable. Despite the second touchscreen, it would be lighter than an iPad and weigh just over one pound and would still be under an inch thick; the footprint would be that of a 5-by-7-inch photo when shut.” Hmm, that’s too bad really. I was hoping for a slightly larger device with two 8-10 inch screens like the enTourage eDGe. Although the enTourage is taking some hits from GottaBeMobile where the device is reported as not being “ready for prime time yet.”

- Speaking of Microsoft, it looks like their pushing their way into the acute care healthcare system with HealthVault Community Connect. Hey, more power to them. Anything that can help improve data structure and storage is alright by me.

- The iPad is scheduled for launch on Saturday April 3rd. Pre-orders will begin March 12th. I’m trying to decide if I really want one of the first generation devices or if I should wait 6-8 months. I’ll let you know on March 12th.

- medGadget: “PEPID, one of the big names in clinical information for mobile devices, is gearing up to release an Android version of its popular software suite.” – PEPID is very popular among a certain subset of physicians. I’m sure they’ll be very excited to have it on their Android devices.

- I found it interesting that Engadget posted an article questioning the survival of the Android platform in the same week that Computerwold wrote about the growing Android market share.

- It looks like e-prescribing might actually catch on after all. Medsacape is reporting that “the number of prescriptions that were routed to pharmacies electronically increased by 181% in 2009 compared with in 2008.” Wow, that’s significant.

- Archetypical: “I first heard about openEHR nearly 10 years ago. I didn’t understand openEHR at all initially, but there was something in the commonsense of getting the foundation data defined and standardized that resonated with me. Over time I have become convinced that openEHR provides an orthogonal approach to eHealth that has a very reasonable chance of success, and more importantly, of making a difference. I no longer believe that the traditional application-driven approach to electronic health information management is effective, economic or sustainable.” – This is a great article that goes on to explain more about the openEHR movement. Check it out.

- Medical News Today: “Yuksel and her research team did a study involving 262 patients at various Alberta pharmacies. Patients in the control group were given an information brochure then asked to come back in 16 weeks for a follow-up meeting. Those in the intervention group went through a more in-depth process. They spoke with a pharmacist about osteoporosis, the risk factors of the disease and screening processes for assessment of osteoporosis. When the pharmacists met with the patients 16 weeks later, they found that those in the intervention group were two times more likely to get a bone density test or start an osteoporosis medication, meaning the pharmacist intervention was beneficial in helping more people receive further assessment and a diagnosis from their doctor.” – Pharmacists continue to make a positive impact on healthcare. I’m just sayin’.

- Isoniazid is a common therapy for the prevention of active tuberculosis in patients with latent disease. Unfortunately treatment can be accompanied by some fairly undesirable side effects, including liver injury. AHSP is reporting that the CDC is now urging increased awareness of liver injury during isoniazid therapy. To that I say, Duh!

- SiliconRepublic.com: “Google believes that in three years or so desktops will give way to mobile as the primary screen from which most people will consume information and entertainment. That’s according to Google Europe boss John Herlihy who said that smart phones enhance Google’s mission to make information universal.” – That’s a bold prediction, but one that I don’t think is too ridiculous. I really don’t think desktops will become obsolete, but I certainly think mobile computing will overtake them. 

- The Five Rights website takes a look at a common situation in every actue care pharmacy in America; been there. 

Have a great weekend everyone, I know I will because I’ll be at Universal Studios Hollywood for a cheer competition.

Wouldn’t this be a great application to use in healthcare? Imagine a patient rolls in through the emergency department; can’t answer your questions because of a language barrier, is unconcious, is too young or simply can’t speak secondary to injuries. The physician grabs his/her smartphone and uses it to “recognize” the patient and pull up their medical records. Now that’s some cool technology!