Bad » Jerry Fahrni

More fanboy douchebaggery

Aug 022011

Someone, actually several people, posted this on Google+ today “Android is No. 1 in 35 countries, approaches 50% global market share”. The article attached to the headline can be found here.

Simple, right? Of course. It’s just someone passing on a bunch of shipment numbers from an article.

Enter the Apple fanboy:

#1 by what measure? Sales volume (# of units)? That is interesting, but Android still appears to be a very very distant 2nd (or maybe 3rd) in terms of application ecosphere for both users and developers. Compared to iOS, the typical Android app is flaky/buggy and incomplete….Android may be selling a lot of handsets, but they have a very long way to go to be the “#1″…”

I hate it when someone throws out an opinion like it’s fact. Saying something is better than something else with nothing more than an opinion is absolute worthless. Can you say something is faster? Sure, if you have the numbers to back it up. Bigger? Yep, piece of cake. Tougher? Absolute, if you have the data to prove it. More apps? If you know how to count. But to simply say something is #1 because the alternative is “flaky/buggy” makes you sound like a complete idiot. Unfortunately this is typical of the conversations I get into when iPhone users see that I use an Android smartphone or when I say I prefer Android over iOS. They just can’t understand why I’d use an “inferior device”. First of all I don’t think my Android smartphone is inferior. Furthermore I have reasons to choose Android over other operating systems, but they are my own. My opinion, my choice, my smartphone.

Is Android #1? I don’t know. I don’t care. And just in case you were wondering, the next time you feel the need to tell me how great your iDevice is, do me a favor and keep it to yourself.

Taking a break…

Uncategorized 8 Responses »

Jun 282011

I started this blog more than two years ago at the behest of my brother, Robert. He and I used to spend a lot of time talking about technology and he encouraged me to put my ideas in writing in the form of a blog. It took quite a while before I finally took his advice, but eventually I got around to it.

It’s been quite a lot of fun, but my desire to keep up this blog has finally run its course. I find little interest in pharmacy technology these days as everything has turned into rehashed content presented under the guise of something new. The technology world has become one of followers with few true leaders and I find myself becoming more and more disgusted with “revolutionary” products and ideas. There are few real thinkers left in the world.

I watched Iron Man 2 last night with my girls. At one point in the movie Tony Stark tears his house apart to build the equipment necessary to synthesize a new element. Funny I know, but that image isn’t much different than one of the founding father’s of this country. Men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and the like weren’t beyond punching a hole in the floor of their home to build a clock for example. Those men were truly revolutionary thinkers. My brother and I have discussed the loss of such minds over time, and it’s disheartening.

I told myself when this blog was no longer fun that I would stop. Well, I’ve reached that point. I find myself generating more rants than informative posts these days. In fact this post went off in the direction of a rant for just a moment. I had to reel myself back in just to finish it up. But I’m not ready to completely give up on the idea of having a blog just yet. After some thought I’ve decided to just ignore it for a while and see if my interest returns. I’m skeptical that my interest will be jump started, but I think it’s worth a shot. Most of the time when I tire of something it’s usually for good. We shall see.

For now I’m taking a break.

Pharmacy Director needed…programming experience required?

Pharmacy Informatics 2 Responses »

May 232011

As I alluded to in a recent post, I still get a fair number of emails and phone calls from pharmacy recruiters; actually got one of each today.

The following recruiter email arrived in my inbox a few days ago. I found a few things very interesting. Feel free to read the entire job description, but pay particular attention to the highlighter sections.
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The tail wagging the dog

Medication Safety No Responses »

Apr 202011

WSJ: “The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it will require some painkiller manufacturers to produce new educational tools in an effort to quell prescription-drug abuse.

The requirements will affect makers of long-acting and extended-release opioids, which include oxycodone, morphine and methadone.

Letters have been sent to manufacturers of the drugs describing the medication guides and tools for physician training that are now required, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said. The FDA will approve the materials, which will also be accredited by professional physician-education providers, she said, a step meant to combat bias in the materials.”

Oh. My. Gosh. Let me see if I can wrap my brain around this. The FDA is going to require that manufacturers of certain “painkillers” tell physicians how to properly use the drugs instead of requiring physicians to read the literature and do exactly what they’re trained and paid to do. Crud, it’s nothing a good pharmacist couldn’t fix. Why doesn’t the FDA simply require physicians to run these same prescriptions through a pharmacist for approval or give pharmacist prescriptive authority instead. It makes a lot more sense than putting the manufacturers in charge of the asylum. I would be utterly embarrassed if a drug manufacturer had to tell me how to properly use a drug because I couldn’t get it right. I think the healthcare system has officially reached a new low. Unfortunately this ain’t no limbo contest.

Healthcare is beyond repair, and I can prove it

Therapeutics 2 Responses »

Apr 112011

Before we begin let me get a few things out of the way. First, I am a healthcare professional. Yes, a pharmacist is a healthcare professional. Second, I’ve spent a large portion of my adult life working in the healthcare industry, both inpatient and out. This includes more than a decade working in a hospital as either a “staff” pharmacist or a “clinical” pharmacist. Third, the average person has no idea what goes on in a hospital or their physician’s office. A majority of people that are misdiagnosed, receive unnecessary labs, get the wrong drug, etc. will never know because they have no reason to think they’re getting anything but the best of care. And finally, I’ve been called a pessimist. I don’t see it that way, but I’m simply giving you all the data I have.
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The art of the excuse

Uncategorized 4 Responses »

Mar 312011

Excuses are a great way to deflect work. And just like everyone else I’ve ever met I’m guilty of using them when they suite my needs. But it feels like I’ve run into more than my fair share of people lately that have nearly perfected the art of the excuse.
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Death of intellectual curiosity, due diligence and our profession

Pharmacy Informatics No Responses »

Feb 142011

Over the weekend I read a tweet from a friend and colleague @kevinclauson. The tweet shared a link to an article titled “Young Adults’ Credibility Assessment of Wikipedia”. I don’t have a problem with the article. On the contrary, it just reinforces my dislike of Wikipedia as a healthcare reference source.

From the abstract: “This paper found that a few students demonstrated in-depth knowledge of the Wikipedia editing process, while most had some understanding of how the site functions and a few lacked even such basic knowledge as the fact that anyone can edit the site. Although many study participants had been advised by their instructors not to cite Wikipedia articles in their schoolwork, students nonetheless often use it in their everyday lives.” Kevin also links to the pre-print version of the article here (PDF).
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“What’s in it for me?”

Pharmacy Informatics No Responses »

Feb 112011

I spent some time this week in Las Vegas attending some NCPDP work groups on standards, e-prescribing and pedigree/track and trace. Because I’m relatively naïve in these areas I learned a lot. The NCPDP is an interesting organization that appears to be doing a lot of the right things in driving standards and improving e-prescribing in the outpatient setting. Unfortunately acute care hasn’t been as aggressive in adopting these standards or implementing e-prescribing. That’s for another blog post.

Following the scheduled meetings I found myself sitting in on a few impromptu after hours sessions where I got my first glimpse of the political side of the pharmacy underbelly. Let’s just say that there are a lot of special interest groups involved in the process and much of what they want has little to do with better healthcare or improved patient care. Instead it’s a what’s-in-it-for-me mentality. It was disturbing to see the good work that NCPDP was doing overshadowed by groups looking to make a buck or make sure that their competitors didn’t get the upper hand.

Even though I was enlightened by the work done by NCPDP, I was troubled by the behavior of “industry leaders” and large healthcare providers. I believe we have forgotten the reason we’re in healthcare in the first place. I’m just sayin’.

Year end thoughts for 2010

What'd I miss 4 Responses »

Dec 312010

2010 brought many new and exciting changes not only in my personal life, but in the world of pharmacy and technology as well. I’ve learned many new things, gained some new skills, made some new friends, explored the world of social media more deeply, traveled more than ever before and discovered that I once again know nothing. I am more excited about next year than I ever thought possible.

Below is a list of opinions I’ve gathered over the past 12 months. Some are pharmacy related, some are technology related, some are personal, and some are just random thoughts.

And here we go…
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The National Drug Code (NDC) is a gremlin in the works of pharmacy

Medication Safety, Pharmacy Informatics 9 Responses »

Nov 242010

The National Drug Code, or NDC number as it’s affectionately called in pharmacy, is a set of numbers used to uniquely identify “human drugs and biologicals“. Every pharmacist is familiar with the NDC number, but if you’re not it’s basically a unique number assigned to each package of medication. It’s an 11 digit number in a 3-segment format, i.e. XXXXX-XXXX-XX.

The first segment consists of five digits and indicates the manufacturer of the drug. The second segment is four digits used to identify the medication and strength. And the final segment of two digits represents the package size.
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Jerry Fahrni