Tag Archives: Cloud Computing

Quick review of things worth reading this week

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
3 Comments

I missed my regular Saturday morning coffee post yesterday for a couple of reasons. I have a cold that has been kicking my butt all week. Not sure why this cold feels particularly weighty, but it does. Is it that I’m run down or that I’m aging? I pray that it’s the former, but fear that it is the latter. My good friends acetaminophen, antihistamine and decongestant have helped me through the week. Top that off with one of the worst travel weeks I can remember in a while and I’m ready for a day on the couch.

Yesterday was a bit of a reprieve as I found myself in Los Angeles visiting my daughter and watching the UCLA men’s basketball team lose to Oregon in an exciting game. I would have preferred that UCLA won, but at least I had some downtime with my family and the weather in Los Angeles was spectacular.

However, life goes on and there were at least a few things I read this week that are worth sharing:
Read more …

Categories: What'd I miss | Tags: , , , ,

Amazon Cloud Player [Music] – Initial Impression

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
1 Comment

I’ve been using Google Music to listen to and store all my music for a while now. The reason I’ve been using it is obvious, i.e. it’s well integrated with all my Android devices; of which I have four. It’s fairly easy to use. I dump music on any of my computers and Google kindly syncs it to my other devices in addition to the cloud. It offers all the essentials including offline listening, which I use while traveling.

Read more …

Categories: Cloud Computing | Tags: ,

Saturday morning coffee [August 4 2012]

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
2 Comments

So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug to the right comes from the University of Texas in Austin, home of the Longhorns. I picked it up last week while the Fahrni crew was on vacation terrorizing the Lone Star State. Feel free to read about what we’ve been up to here.

- Dark Knight Rises remained #1 at the box office last weekend. I’ve already seen Dark Knight Rises so my wife and I went to see The Watch instead. The Watch is a terrible movie, but it’s funny as heck. If you’re looking for a crappy movie that will make you laugh out loud at times, then the Watch is for you. I don’t regret seeing it as I was due for a good laugh, but I wouldn’t see it again. It’s a Redbox rental, if you know what I mean.

- Music for this morning’s blog composition, Candlebox.
Read more …

Categories: Saturday Coffee | Tags: , , , ,

SugarSync, an easy way to share large files across the net

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
1 Comment

It’s not uncommon for me to find myself with the need to get a large file onto someone else’s machine. The problem is that I’ve moved away from many of the more traditional ways of moving files back and forth. I try to carry a flash drive with me, but someone always needs one and I end up giving them away. I don’t have a CD-RW on either of my travel machines. I don’t carry an external drive. And my corporate email limits email attachments to 10MB, which really isn’t that big these days.

Anyway, I found myself in a situation where I needed to move several large files and had no easy way to do it. Fortunately I use SuargarSync, which is capable of quickly and easily sharing files.

Read more …

Categories: Cloud Computing | Tags: ,

Opinion: why the Google Chromebook is not a bad idea

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
7 Comments

Anyone that knows me personally or has read this site must realize that I like technology and think that the cloud is the future for a great many things. While I don’t necessarily think the cloud is ready for primetime for everyone, I believe that we have yet to realize the full power of moving away from the desktop storage model.

Google recently unveiled the availability of its Chromebook, a laptop “optimized for the web”. I haven’t had an opportunity to see one in person, but I have every intention to purchase one of these machines and give the concept a shot. Based on internet chatter it may be easier said than done as I believe the Chromebook will be a hot commodity when it becomes available.

Read more …

Categories: Mobile Computing | Tags: , , ,

Practice Fusion EHR gets allergy alerts

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
1 Comment

I am a fan of web-based healthcare applications, including EHRs. I especially like the web-based EHR available from Practice Fusion. The application is full featured, easy to use and free. I spent a little time playing with it back in June 2010. One of the things I noted during my review was that “there appears to be no cross checking between allergies and newly entered medications.” As a pharmacist this was pretty important. Well, I’m happy to say that allergy checking no longer appears to be an issue.

EHR Bloggers: “We’re excited to bring you a major new feature for your EHR account today: drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction alerts. It’s a frequently requested enhancement and also a big step towards Meaningful Use. And, like all our features, this clinical decision support system (CDSS) is entirely free.

Drug Interaction Alerts
You will now be automatically alerted when a drug you are adding, prescribing or refilling interacts with another drug or with an allergy listed in the patient’s chart. The following video shows you how to set permissions, heed alerts and override alerts. “

To gain access and begin using the Practice Fusion EHR simply sign up for a free account here. I would encourage any practitioner that needs a robust, easy to use EHR system to give Practice Fusion a look. It’s a solid application.

I was going to try the new feature for myself, but forgot my credentials; how embarrassing.

Categories: EMR | Tags: , , , ,

Chrome OS for healthcare? At least someone thinks so

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
No Comments

Medgadget: “Yet on the whole, playing with the CR-48 is like peeking into the future – the far, far away future. And though it’s hard to fill in all the details now, there’s a lot of potential for Chrome OS in the world of medicine.” – The author does a great job of covering why the Chrome OS, and a CR-48 like device, would be good for healthcare. Reasons include disposability in which “the ultimate machine for the medical world is the one in which the doctor, nurse, patient, etc, cares the least about if it’s dropped, lost, or broken”; interchangeability by allowing any user to simply log into any CR-48 and have their information instantly available; security; and hardware customizability. It’s a refreshing change to see someone thinking outside the box when it comes to computing in healthcare.
Read more …

Categories: Cloud Computing | Tags: , , ,

Don’t dismiss the potential of Chrome OS just yet

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
No Comments

The Cr-48 is Google’s first notebook sporting their Chrome OS. While the hardware is nice, it’s really the operating system and the concept that’s raising eyebrows and generating interest. The operating system is designed to make optimal use of “the web”. The features of Chrome OS include instant on, fast load times, cloud storage and recover, etc. A full list of features can be found at the Google Chrome OS website.

I’ve read several reviews of the Cr-48 and for the most part users haven’t been all that impressed. The reviews interest me because I don’t believe the people using these machines get it. First and foremost, the Cr-48 is clearly a work in progress as is Chrome OS. Second, the idea of an internet based, fully cloud enabled system is ideal for creating a hardware agnostic future. It appears to me that Google is testing the waters and collecting data for a future run at something bigger. Do you really doubt Google will continue to develop a better cloud concept for an operating system? It would be a mistake to do so.

I remember similar thoughts from the so called experts when the Android OS rolled out, and now it’s slowly becoming the most prominent operating system for mobile devices. I don’t see that changing anytime in the near future.
Read more …

Categories: Cloud Computing | Tags: , ,

Wolters Kluwer acquires Pharmacy OneSource

Posted on by Jerry Fahrni
2 Comments

You may not be familiar with Wolters Kluwer, but if you’re a pharmacist I’m sure you are familiar with their products: Facts & Comparisons, Medi-Span, Ovid, ProVation Medical, UpToDate. While Facts & Comparisons has become an afterthought in the drug information world, products like UpToDate and ProVation Medical are gaining traction in the healthcare industry. This is especially true as physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare providers look for ways to access information while on the go, i.e. access from mobile devices.

Wolters and Kluwer just bolstered their position and gained significantly more credibility with their purchase of Pharmacy OneSource. Pharmacy OneSource is the maker of several innovative pharmacy products such as Accupedia pediatric dosing software, Sentri 7 clinical surveillance software and Quantifi for pharmacist intervention documentation. Pharmacy OneSource not only provides several interesting and innovative applications, they also offer them by way of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, which is uncommon in the pharmacy world.

I’ve blogged about Pharmacy OneSource several times as I’m not only a fan of their products, but their distribution model and use of cloud computing as well. It’s no secret that I believe in cloud computing as the future for many applicaitons in pharmacy and feel that Pharmacy OneSource has created a solid foundation on which the rest of the industry can build. My only hope for the Wolters Klumer acquisition of Pharmacy OneSource is that their innovative products and strategy won’t change. Often times the first thing to go when a smaller company is purchased by a larger company is innovation. Here’s hoping that won’t happen.

Categories: Pharmacy Informatics | Tags: , ,