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.

Having both devices in my possession has given me the perfect opportunity to test them head-to-head to see which setup I prefer. My original plan was to carry the iPhone exclusively for a month or so to see if I could completely replace my DROID. Unfortunately number forwarding only works with calls. Text messages would continue going to my DROID which would create a problem for me as I receive text messages several fold more than I do direct calls. So I have been carrying both devices for the past few weeks.

One thing I’ve realized during this brief experiment is that these devices are primarily ultra-mobile computers first, and a phone second. Apple and Motorola, willing or not, have extended the reach of desktops far and wide. Some people might cringe at the idea, but I find it exciting to be able to do almost anything I want from the comforts of my couch, the coffee shop or while standing in line to get popcorn at the movie theater. These devices don’t force you to work 24/7, but they give you the option to do it if that’s what you chose. I’m like most people, if something interests me I’m likely to spend time on it regardless of where I am. On the other hand if I find something boring or useless I’m much more likely to work on it from the confines of my office. There are only so many hours in the day and why spend them working on stuff you don’t like when you can spend them working on things that are cool.

Speaking of cool, the iPhone is a very slick device. It’s hard not to like it when you pick it up. Regardless of where you are in your technology maturity, infant or aging pro, you can figure out how to use an iPhone in a mater of minutes. Simple things like having the same row of four icons at the bottom of the device regardless of what screen you’re on, or the switch on the side of the device that can be used to quickly silence it, are nice touches. Apple has done a remarkable job with the simplicity of the iPhone. It reminds me of the original Palm Pilot many years ago. The interface just begs to be touched by the end-user. One thing I’ve found to be both a blessing and a curse is the physical design of the iPhone. Its shape and symmetry make it difficult to pick up and start using in the dark. I can’t tell you the times I’ve reached for the device on my dresser in the middle of the night and had to fumble around a bit to find the top of the device. You certainly won’t have that problem with the DROID, it’s a brick with a large, protruding lip at the bottom.

The iPhone integration with Mac computers in stellar; I expected nothing less. It took only a couple of minutes to configure the phone once I plugged it into our main iMac at home. In short order I had moved all my iTunes music, movies, videos, contacts, calendar appointments, and applications onto the device. I forgot how much I enjoyed my iPod Touch, which has been sitting dormant on my dresser since purchasing the DROID. The iPhone is a great entertainment device for listening to music or watching movies. The gaming on the iPhone blows the DROID out of the water, so there’s really no comparison there. Unfortunately all this comes at the expense of battery life.

The DROID is relatively easy to set-up and start using as well, but not quite as easy as the iPhone. The DROID offers more flexibility for customization giving it a leg up on the iPhone for people that like to add a little “flair” their devices. I miss having widgets available on the iPhone. I use a full screen calendar widget on my DROID to keep track of my families activities, and believe me I need it. The DROID also allows one to place shortcuts to almost anything right on the desktop, such as contact phone numbers. I’ve found this very useful for people that I frequently call. There’s no need for me to go into my contacts to find a number. The DROID offers a “favorites” list similar to the iPhone, but even that can take a second to look through. Putting a phone, or text, number right on the main screen offers quick and easy access.

The DROID integration with Google applications is superb. I use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Voice and Google Calendar, as does the rest of my immediate family. Because the device offers such great integration I have access to everyone’s calendar right from the screen of my DROID. And Google Voice is just plain awesome. I really miss these feature when using the iPhone.

The app store for the iPhone is much better than the app store for Android, although the Android market is getting better. All the important pharmacy applications, like Lexi-Comp, a Twitter client, a Facebook client, etc are available in the Android market so that’s all I really care about. I’ve really come to like the Seesmic Twitter client for the DROID. I never thought I would replace the TweetDeck experience I had on my iPod touch, but I’ve come to prefer Seesmic. The one missing app that I would love to have on my DROID is RxCalc, but I suppose that’s my own fault since the developer is my brother. Maybe I can get him to port it to the Android OS.

One thing to note about the Android market versus the Apple app store is that there are several Android based devices and only one iPhone OS. This does make a difference as my DROID runs Android 2.0 which doesn’t always play nice with an application developed for a device running Android 1.5 or 1.6. Once again Apple’s control over their hardware and software is paying dividends.

The iPhone has turned out to be a good device for accessing the pharmacy system via our hospital’s virtual network. The Citrix client for the iPhone is much better than its counterpart for the DROID. I’ve only used Citrix Receiver on the iPhone twice to access the pharmacy system, but it worked and it was certainly better than firing up my laptop.

The screens on the devices are both very good, although the DROID’s indoor viewing is better. However, the iPhone is easily readable in direct sunlight while the DROID screen is not. I spend a fair amount of time walking from building to building at work and never noticed the DROID’s poor screen viewing in direct sunlight until I started using the iPhone. It’s a small thing, but I’ve found myself reaching for the iPhone over the DROID when I’m outside during the day.

Video playback and sound quality are better on the DROID, no question. This includes the earpiece, which I’ve found to be less than stellar on the iPhone. When I have to make a call I prefer using the DROID. This is especially true when you throw in the number of dropped calls I’ve had on the iPhone since I started carrying it. I’ve been with Verizon since February 2000, I called them to check, and I cannot recall dropping as many calls in that ten year span as I’ve dropped in only four weeks of carrying the iPhone. That’s no joke people. I’ve become so frustrated with the dropped calls that’s I’ve stopped using the iPhone as a phone. It has become a way to check email, read tweets, follow-up on text messages, etc, but when I have a choice of device for making a phone call it’s the DROID. Of course this may vary in your area as coverage is different for everyone, but for me it’s been pretty spotty.

The iPhone’s onscreen keyboard is much better than the DROID. I can type pretty well on it. I don’t have particularly large hands, but they’re certainly not small either. The onscreen keyboard for the DROID feels sluggish to me now that I’ve been using the iPhone. The best onscreen keyboard I’ve used, however, belongs to the BlackBerry Storm 2. I love that keyboard. I wish I could put the Android OS on the Storm 2. One thing I found extremely frustrating on the iPhone is that not all applications allow use of the large horizontal keyboard. I hate the small vertical keyboard on the iPhone. On the DROID the screen turns horizontal as soon as you open the slider, making it much more user friendly.

The physical keyboard on the DROID is much better than the iPhone. Ok, that’s not really fair because the iPhone doesn’t have a physical keyboard. Anyway, the physical keyboard on the DROID is serviceable, but I’ve found other physical keyboards to be much better. My daughter carries an enV Touch and I’ve found that I prefer that physical keyboard on that device over the one on the DROID. The navigation pad on the DROID’s physical keyboard is a nice feature that I wish the iPhone had.

Once I got used to it I found the copy and paste function on the iPhone to be better than that of the DROID. The DROID offers more copy and paste functionality, but the iPhone offers better onscreen precision when selecting text. Placing the cursor at the proper location is much better with the iPhone secondary to the magnifying glass that pops up. The DROID isn’t as user friendly while using the onscreen keyboard, but sliding the physical keyboard out makes cursor placement on the DROID comparable to the iPhone.

I really thought I would like the multi-touch functionality of the iPhone because I’ve complained about its absence on the DROID. However, I’ve found that being able to double tap the DROID screen to zoom in has turned out to be far better for me than the multi-touch on the iPhone. This is especially true when I’m in applications outside the web browser.

The camera on the DROID generates better images than the camera on the iPhone. The GPS functionality on the DROID is also better than that of the iPhone. The DROID’s integration with Google Maps has been very useful to me. I’ve purchased the Multimedia Station and GPS car mount for my DROID which has added significant value to the device. To my disappointment the iPhone is not compatible with some of the docking stations I use with my iPod nano. This was very frustrating for me as I have a lot of clocks, speakers and stereo adapters for my nano.

Battery life on both devices is average. I can’t get more than a day out of either without a charge. With that said, the DROID is head and shoulders about the iPhone in battery life because it has a swappable battery while the iPhone does not. When the DROID battery is dead simply pop a freshly charge one in it and you’re up and running in 30 seconds. If you let the iPhone battery get away from you then you’ll have to find an outlet. I’ve found this to be an issue while traveling. As an extension of my desktop these devices get heavy use and the poor battery life can certainly be an issue. This becomes an even bigger issue if you start using the iPhone for entertainment, which is too bad because the iPhone is particularly good for passing the time during quiet moments. Don’t even try watching a full length movie on the iPhone and expect to use it for anything else.

The voice search feature on the DROID works great and I wish it was available on the iPhone. Tap the button, speak into the DROID and get a list of everything you’re looking for including literature searches. The other thing I really like about the DROID is the “multi-tasking”. Holding down the home button on the DROID brings up a list of the last six applications you had open. This works great for me as I frequently bounce back and forth between emails, text messages and websites. I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s forgotten what they were trying to reference and had to go back for a second look. This lack of functionality on the iPhone cost me a few times during the first week of use because I kept trying to do the same thing with disastrous results.

The DROID offers much better email, twitter and text notification than the iPhone. The notification bar at the top of the DROID and the little light in the upper right hand corner of the device is awesome; blinking blue for @JFahrni mention in Twitter, solid blue for text message, blinking green for email, etc. It’s a small feature, but very useful. Depending on where you have your application icons on the iPhone you may have to move around a little bit to find what you’re looking for.

Final thoughts
I’ve really enjoyed using both these devices over the past four weeks. They both offer incredible flexibility and functionality, but they are not interchangeable. My initial impression was that you could use either device without missing a beat. Not true. I’ve found that I prefer the iPhone for certain things and the DROID for others. The iPhone is certainly more user friendly and polished, while the DROID’s Android 2.0 operating system feels a little immature and clunky next to the iPhone. The DROID offers more customizable options, while the iPhone offers a better gaming experience and far more applications.

The big thing for me has been the poor coverage offered by AT&T in my area and the DROID’s better ear piece quality. I mean, really, when you want to make a call on your mobile smartphone shouldn’t you be able to. In addition, the integration with Google makes the DROID ideal for me and my family.

If the iPhone ever makes its way to the Verizon network I’ll give it another look. For now I’ll stick with the DROID and make due with the iPad that I have on order.

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.

- Avatar was #1 at the box office for a second weekend in a row. It really is a great movie.

- The New Year was ushered in this week.

- TechCrunch: “Ten Technologies That Will Rock 2010 – There are beautiful Android tablets , concept tablets, and, of course, the one tablet which could define the category, the Apple Tablet. “ – Yep, the iSlate tablet from Apple is the most yet-to-be-seen-in-the-wild device I’ve ever read about. Here’s hoping that it lives up to the hype.

- GottaBeMobile : “There’s an eerie silence amongst all the excitement, though, and it is coming from none other than Microsoft and its’ partners. This silence is very concerning and it will cause Microsoft to suddenly see something they owned get snatched from their hands if they don’t quickly change their ways.” – Unfortunately I think Rob’s words are far too true for my taste. Microsoft has been blazing a trail in tablet development for years and now they are going to sit around and watch companies like Apple snatch it away from them.

- PubMed got a face lift. I know it’s been that way for a little while, but I thought I would mention it anyway. PubMed is the premiere search engine for scientific literature.

- The New York Times: “How to Train the Aging Brain – Recently, researchers have found even more positive news. The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster than a young person can.” – I spent a good chunk of my life playing football; spring football, passing league in the summers, conditioning in the early fall, the season in the winter, etc. This had a definite impact on my brain. To this day, the smell of freshly cut grass makes me think of football fields and certain sounds in the weight room bring back fond memories of good times with close friends. It’s a great article.

- Barcode.com: “CardBank conveniently stores all of your retailer preferred cards in your iPhone. By eliminating the need to rummage through card after card on countless keyrings, CardBank centralizes the location of your cards for easy access.” The CardBank application has remained among the Top 50 Paid Utility Applications on the iTunes Store with at least 80 loyalty card programs programmed into CardBank. Users have easy access to the programs and are able to request new programs. CardBank has the ability to display barcodes in both landscape and portrait pieces to help generate positive scanning results.” – I love this idea. Doesn’t everyone have a ton of those “rewards cards” in their wallet; Barns & Noble, Borders, UA Movie Theaters, Best Buy, Starbucks, HardRock Café, etc? You can get more information on CardBank at their website.

- Green.TMCnet.com: “Zebra Enterprise Solutions, a division of Zebra Technologies, announced American Barcode and RFID has joined its partner program. The ZES partner program enables AB&R to integrate a broader range of technology solutions with its existing offerings. American Barcode and RFID is a technology integrator of Automatic Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) solutions that help customers manage assets, track inventory, mobilize their work force, and secure their work place.” – There’s that RFID thing again.

- Health Content Advisors: “In the healthcare industry, where I focus most of my attention, the possibilities for making the world run better by exploiting research, outcomes, and administrative data are enormous. Yet, the healthcare sector lags other industries by more than a decade in data management, data access and interoperability.” – Everyone knows that the healthcare industry is more then ten years behind other industries in several key areas, but the question remains; what are we going to do about it?

- The Entourage eDGe Dual Screen eBook Reader was caught on Video. This is a very exciting little device. Check out the hands-on review at CNET News.

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- There is a must read article at Technology Review called The Year in Biomedicine. The article speaks of 2009 “as the year human genome sequencing finally became routine enough to generate useful medical information”. I don’t know whether to be excited or frightened by such a thing. Anyway, the article covers some fantastic material, be sure to check it out.

- TechCrunch: “Android Finally Gets An Official Yammer App” – Think of Yammer as Twitter for use from within your company. Yammer is advertised as “Enterprise Microblogging”. Is anyone out there using this service? I’d certainly like to give it a try at my hospital. You can get more information at the Yammer website.

- GottaBeMobile has a list of ten free apps “that will help improve your overall Droid experience.” That’s cool, considering my overall Droid experience to this point has been fantastic.

- I visit a site called MobileRead.com several times a week because I have an interest in e-readers and e-ink technology. They have a feature called “MobileRead Week in Review” that any e-reader/e-book enthusiast should check out.

- Simon Bramfitt : “But no matter how you look at it thin-clients are expensive in comparison to PCs. I’ve tried to get straight answers from thin-client vendors in the past, as to why their machines cost so much, but while they are very willing to share information about sizable cost of ownership benefits, I’ve never had a complete answer to the question I was asking.” – I completely agree with this sentiment. Thin clients offer bare-bones configurations and often times cost more than a bare-bones desktop client with better specs.

- The Electronic Health Record Incentive Program, “Meaningful Use”, program was released this week. John Poikonen points out that pharmacists are listed a total of zero times in the 556 page document. That my friend is a complete travesty.

- Speaking of John; please stop by the RxInformatics website and vote for the top 10 pharmacy/pharmacoinformatics articles of 2009. The list of related articles compiled by John is impressive, and I struggled mightily trying to select the “top” ten.

- HealthcareIT News: “The government announced Friday $60 million to support healthcare IT research projects aimed at “breakthrough” advances. David Blumenthal, MD, national coordinator for health information technology, said the money would support the development of Strategic Health IT Advanced Research Projects (SHARP). SHARP projects will conduct focused research in critical areas where breakthrough advances are needed to address existing barriers to the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. Applications are due on Jan. 25, 2010, with awards anticipated in March 2010.” – That’s not much time to get my application in. I’d better sharpen my pencil.

- EHR Bloggers: “Meaningful Use Quick Reference Guide – The following list has been excerpted from pages 47-65 of the CMS document. EHR vendors and providers should read the original document as part of any formal planning exercise and certainly in advance of any EHR purchasing decision.” – I love quick reference guides.

- Microsoft Word always tries to change “EHR” to “HER”; interesting.

Have a great weekend everyone.

The first thing that struck me was the sheer number of reference databases available from Lexi-comp. I’m a long time user of Lexi-Drugs, both paper and electronic, but have never really looked at other options. Because this was a beta test, Lexi-Comp sent me a laundry list of products to look at.

Medical references installed included:

- Lexi-Drugs
- Pediatric Lexi-Drugs
- Nursing Lexi-Drugs
- Pharmacogenomics
- Natural Products
- Infectious Diseases
- Lab and Diagnostic Procedures
- Harrison’s Practice
- 5 – Minute Clinical Consult
- 5 – Minute Pediatric Consult
- AHFS Essentials
- Lexi-Tox
- Drug Allergy
- Pregnancy and Lactation
- and so and so forth for a total of 31 drug and medical references of various shapes and sizes.

In addition to the reference applications, the Lexi-Comp package came with a drug interaction analyzer, which I put through quite a battery of tests and was pleased with the results.

I make a living as a pharmacist and can say hands down that Lexi-Comp has created one heck of a product. The references are easy to use, intuitive and every bit the high quality I’ve come to expect from Lexi-Comp. They should be congratulated for creating a fine product.

At this point I only wish that I had screen shots to put in the post, but alas I have yet to figure out an easy way to grab screen images directly from the Droid. If I am able to get some good images along the way, I will be sure to update the post. Until then I encourage you to visit the Lexi-Comp Android page where you will find a screen cast video and a few images of the Lexi-Comp drug interaction analyzer.

- The Princess and The Frog was #1 at the box office last weekend. I’m really looking forward to Avatar this weekend.

- I spent most of last week at ASHP Midyear in Las Vegas, NV. Prior to Midyear several pharmacists got together and decided to try using Google Wave as a way of making the conference a bit more interesting and informative. Unfortunately the experiment failed. Several things could have contributed to the failure, but I think the most prominent were lack of interest in Wave and the complete absence of wireless connectivity at Midyear; maybe next year.

- A company called Fraunhofer has developed a video teleconferencing system for medical applications. “In collaboration with the Protestant Hospital in the town of Witten, researchers at the ISST have now developed a software program that makes coordination both simple and cost-effective. “Our software is designed to be modular – you start with the basic core services and simply add the specialist individual services you need in each case,” Koch explains. For basic program functions such as barcode recognition, the scientists have chosen existing open-source solutions. To tailor these to a specific application, the programmer simply modifies certain parameters.”

- EHR Bloggers: “Efforts by informatics organizations to “computerize the human studyome” will help systematize the evolution of clinical recommendations based on medical evidence. From this, various clinical and scientific bodies can create an increasingly-robust set of clinical guidelines, recognizing that not all clinical questions have a single answer. But how can that be presented to rank-and-file physicians? Clinical Decision Support is a feature of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), where information embedded in the patient’s EHR can alert physicians to optimal medications, current recommendations, or the need for certain tests. “ – The article discusses the difficulty in keeping up with the extreme amount of information being thrown at clinicians today and offers up a couple of useful solutions for letting technology help.

- JAMIA 2010; 17:78-84: “The impact of computerized provider order entry on medication errors in a multispecialty group practice – Conclusion: A basic CPOE system in a community setting was associated with a significant reduction in medication errors of most types and severity levels.” - The article looks at approximately 10,000 prescriptions, half handwritten and half electronic, and compares the number of errors for each type. While informative and potentially valuable, the study is pretty liberal with their definition of an error. Errors included inappropriate abbreviations and orders with incomplete information.

- Laika’s MedLibLog presents a very nice summary of this article on why people may be responding differently to the H1N1 virus. Take a moment to read it if you can, it is interesting stuff.

- Are you a BlackBerry addict? Well, there is a BlackBerry application called “I Love BlackBerry” from EarlySail that will “ show your usage during work hours and during nights and weekends. It organizes your daily, weekly, monthly usage for the current month as well as displays long term averages.” Don’t be surprised how much time you’re spending on your CrackBerry.

- Below is a video of what the future holds for magazines and e-readers. I am so looking forward to this.

- From the “what-was-your-first-clue” category, Healthcare IT News is reporting that “The adoption of healthcare IT and its use to reduce costs are among the top 10 healthcare trends to expect in 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.” Do they really pay people to come up with this stuff?

- There’s a great post at Massachusetts Medical Law Report on Social networking 101 for physicians. The article gives some great times for any healthcare provider using social media.

- 9 to 5 Mac has a short list of some of the biggest remaining iTunes hold-outs. On the list is one of my favorite bands of all time, AC/DC.

- My daughters Christmas present finally arrived from Barnes & Noble via UPS last night. I was starting to worry as the original delivery date for my order was pushed back a couple of times. Oh by the way, it’s a Nook. Don’t worry, my website isn’t cool enough for her to read so there’s no chace of her finding out about it before Christmas. I’ve had a little time to play with it (hey, it’s my job to make sure it’s working properly) and I have to say it’s a great little device. I’ll let you know how it goes after a couple of months of heavy use by my daughter.

- The Entourage Edge is a very exciting hybrid device with dual-display, 9.7-inch E Ink and 10-inch LCD, and built-in WiFi. I’m looking forward to its release scheduled for some time in the first quarter of 2010. Check out the video below.

- Evernote for Android is finally available. I’m a user and proponent of Evernote and have been waiting for this since I purchased my Droid. TechCrunch has some nice screen shots.

- Just a quick reminder that many of my blogs will now be cross posted to RxInformatics.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Most of the displays are completely worthless, but I did have a couple of goals in mind as I entered the hall.

MedBoard
I’ve heard quite a bit about MedBoard since my arrival at the ASHP Midyear. We spent a few minutes in the Talyst User Group talking about it, I spent some time talking to a group from Pharmacy OneSource about it, and it was the hot topic of discussion at the Pharmacy Automation Operations Networking Session today.

I’ve previously listed MedBoard as one of my Cool Technology for Pharmacy, but based on the current status of the product I don’t think it is right for our facility. The process could be of value in certain circumstances, but requires the introduction of manually scanning barcodes on the medication for tracking. It might be worth another looks when a more passive tracking approach becomes available, i.e. RFID.

Drug Information for the Droid
Some drug information software vendors, PEPID, ePocrates and Micromedex, said I could access their information via the Droids internet browser. No thanks. Lexi-Comp currently has drug information software for the Android OS, but not specifically for the Droid. They did tell me that the Droid version is four to six weeks away.

TheraDoc
Our hospital has owned a product called Stellara for a few years now, but haven’t done anything with it. TheraDoc inherited Stellara accounts less than a year ago and I have been asked by our pharmacy department to get the application up and running. TheraDocs can provide pharmacy users with real-time access to patient information for the pharmacy system as well as lab and ADT. In addition, rules can be designed to alert pharmacists of patients with certain high risk medication situations, allergies, inappropriate antibiotic therapy, high or low lab values, etc. It basically boils down to a clinical workflow engine designed for pharmacists.

Pharmacy OneSource offers an equivalent system called Sentri7, which I have also blogged about. Our pharmacy is currently evaluating another Pharmacy OneSource product, Simplifi 797, and I would like to stick with a single vendor. Decisions will be based on many important factors,  <cough> cost <cough> .

Alternative barcode solution
Barcoding certain dosage forms can be a headache and several of my technicians have tasked me with finding them an “easy and straightforward” solution.

Two companies that piqued my interest were Pearsonmedical and Epson. Pearsonmedical offers a very nice flag label and easy to use software called m:print. The software utilizes the NDDF formulary from First Data Bank to access drug information based on the product being used. Epson is the first company I’ve seen to date offering barcode labels with color ink. Their SecurColor On-Demand Color InkJet Printer is pretty slick. I was skeptical, but the labels look good and don’t smear.

All in all it turned out to be a successful jaunt around the exhibit hall.

-2012 was #1 at the box office last weekend. My family and I saw it last Saturday. It was definitely action packed. There’s no question about next week. The #1 will be The Twilight Saga New Moon, which opened last night at midnight to huge crowds here in Fresno. And yes, my daughters and wife stood in that line to see the first showing. Now that’s dedication.

- Microsoft is offering a free beta download of Office 2010. I downloaded it on Wednesday and have been playing with it off and on. So far I’m very impressed. I especially like the integration with the pen features on my tablet pc. OneNote is fantastic.

- If you like eReaders and think they might be a good Christmas gift, then I highly recommend you check out the eReader Holiday Gift Guide at Best Tablet Review; part 1 and part 2.

- Chest 2009;136:1237-1248: “The appropriateness of initial antimicrobial therapy, the clinical infection site, and relevant pathogens were retrospectively determined for 5,715 patients with septic shock in three countries. Inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy for septic shock occurs in about 20% of patients and is associated with a fivefold reduction in survival. Efforts to increase the frequency of the appropriateness of initial antimicrobial therapy must be central to efforts to reduce the mortality of patients with septic shock.” – The moral of the story boys and girls is to be aggressive with antimicrobial therapy and do it quickly. Don’t forget, the most effective means of treating early sepsis is antimicrobial therapy, volume, and pressor support.

- There is currently a shortage of propofol. This is causing a lot of problems in hospitals as propofol is a favorite in the O.R. and ICU.

- Google’s Chrome OS is out in the open and everyone is talking about it. Unfortunately, most of the weblogs I’ve read haven’t been all that flattering. Most are complaining that the new OS is too basic. I suppose you can’t please everyone.

- DailyMedRx: “DailyMed transfers your prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and vitamins, and organizes them into pre-sorted packets clearly marked with the date and time they should be taken. Your entire 30-day supply is delivered to your home in our convenient dispensing box. DailyMed is perfect for you or a loved one who is constantly running to a pharmacy only to spend hours rummaging through multiple pill bottles or confusing pill reminders – never quite sure if everything is handled correctly.” – Thanks to Carla Corkern (@carlacorkern) for bringing this to my attention. DailyMedRx is an interesting concept and one that would be useful for patients with several different medication regimens.

- Post Graduate Medical Journal 2009;85:455-459: “Social networking sites: a novel portal for communication – Facebook is providing a readily accessible portal for patients, carers and healthcare professionals to share their experiences of investigation, diagnosis and management of disease. Furthermore, this technology is being used for research, education and fundraising. Further research is warranted to explore the further potential of this new technology.” – I always love it when they say further research is warranted. It gives the authors something to plan for. Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The most interesting thing about the use of social media by healthcare professionals is that these portals were developed for the consumer market. Once again the consumer market has taken the lead and developed a technology that is better than anything the healthcare market could create.

- The ARCHOS 9 tablet is a rather thin tablet pc with a high-definition 8.9” screen and resistive touch screen. It runs windows 7 and looks impressive. The ARCHOS 9 was supposed to hit the shelves sometime in late October, but it looks like it won’t be available until sometime in early 2010. Check out the video below.

-    Best Droid cartoon I’ve seen to date.

- I’m a little late to the party, but I’ve finally started using Google Wave. I received an invite from Dr. Heather Leslie (@omowizard) because our discussion about allergies wouldn’t fit within the 140 character limit of Twitter. I can see that Wave has tremendous potential, but I must admit that there is a bit of a learning curve. I would like to see more pharmacists start using it as a way of sharing resources and collaborating on projects. If only.

- If you’ve ever wondered what the worst apps for the iPhone were, all you have to do is look at this story. My favorite is Hang Time, which encourages you to throw your very pricey iPhone in the air to measure how high it goes.

- The Arizona Cardinals beat the Seahawks last week, which puts them in the lead in the NFC West for a second straight year. I know it’s a weak division, but I’ll take what I can get. On the schedule this week, the Rams. Hey isn’t that like having a second bye week?

- Ahhh, vacation. I’m on-call through Monday morning of next week, and then I’m on vacation for seven glorious days. I’m looking forward to some good old fashioned time off.

Have a great weekend everyone.