Saturday morning coffee [January 26 2013]

Amsterdam Coffee MugSo 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 straight from Amsterdam. I stopped there back in November 2011 on my way to Germany on a work trip. It’s a dirty city with a weird vibe to it. Everyone smokes and you better watch your butt or you’re likely to get run down by a bicycle, which appears to be a popular form of transportation. I walked through the Red Light District just to say that I’ve seen it. It was disturbing and depressing. It’s sad to see that kind of thing in my opinion.  Overall I didn’t like Amsterdam. You can have it. By the way, that’s a pretty big coffee mug. It hold a lot of coffee.

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Cool Pharmacy App – MediSafe Medication Reminder [#android]

I came across this app the other day and thought it was pretty interesting. The app, MediSafe Medication Minder, is part of the MediSafe Project. The website isn’t very informative, but it’s worth checking out. What’s the MediSafe app all about? Well, this pretty much sums it up: “It’s simple. When it’s time for you … Read more

Saturday morning coffee [January 12 2013]

Welcome to my first Saturday morning coffee post of 2013. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

The coffee mug below was a Christmas present from my youngest daughter, Mikaela. Apparently she reads my blog; yeah, I’m as surprised by that as anyone. She thought I needed a customized coffee mug to go along with my Saturday morning coffee post. I’m thrilled to be displaying it here today for the first time. I had to move it down because it deserved an image from both sides.

Christmas SMC Mug

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Cool Pharmacy Technology – NFC-enabled medication compliance

Thanks to Timothy Aungst for the tip. His Tweet led me to this Quand Medical page where I found a little bit of information about their medication compliance software. Their solution utilizes NFC technology to aid patients with tracking and taking their medication as well as potentially reducing errors.

The Tweet from Timothy was timely as I’ve been musing about using NFC technology in the medication use process. With the popularity of smartphones and the slow, but steady adoption of things like Google Wallet, it makes sense to take a deeper dive and give the technology a long hard look.

I would have liked to have seen a video of the product in action, but I couldn’t find one. Who knows whether or not this is the solution for medication compliance, but it’s certainly a tool worth investigation.

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Impact of alcohol intake on medication adherence [abstract]

Does alcohol consumption impact medication adherence? I don’t know, but it’s a fair question. I would assume that it all depends on when you drink, how much, how often, if there’s any correlation between drinking time and medication consumption, age and social status of the patient, and so on. The variables one would have to look at would be quite extensive in my opinion. We’re talking about human behavior here, which is notoriously difficult to quantify and control.

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Saturday morning coffee [September 1 2012]

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 is from Stanford University. I took my daughters on a site visit to the Stanford campus in the Summer of 2011. The campus is beautiful. This is the last time I will use this particular mug. I haven’t decided whether to simply put it in storage or smash it to pieces and throw it in the trash. I’m a little upset with Stanford. My daughter applied to Stanford in late 2011 and was promptly turned down. My daughter has the highest GPA that can be earned in high school, graduated Summa Cum Laude, was Valedictorian, took the maximum number of AP courses allowed (received A’s in all of them), did community service, was on the Forensics team, part of the leadership club, did school cheer, was part of two National Championship Competitive Cheer teams (outside school activity), etc, etc. She really wanted to attend Stanford, and they broke her heart. Their loss. My daughter will be attending UCLA this fall. I’m very proud.

- The Expendables 2 was #1 at the box office last weekend. My family and I saw it. Great movie. It was exactly what I wanted. It was action from beginning to end. Remember, I go to movies to be entertained, not to be enlightened. And I was entertained.

Sylvester Stallone: I heard you were bit by a rattlesnake.

Chuck Norris: I was and after 5 days of agonizing pain… it died.

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Greater adherence to diabetes drugs linked to less hospital use, could save billions [article]

Medication adherence/compliance is an important issue for all patients with chronic disease, but some are potentially worth more in healthcare dollars than others. Disease states like diabetes, heart failure, asthma and HIV/AIDS, among others rely heavily on proper medication use to prevent frequent visits to urgent care centers, or in worst case scenarios hospital admissions. … Read more

Teaching Medication Adherence in US Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy [article]

An article in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education takes a look at “the nature and extent of medication adherence education in US colleges and schools of pharmacy”. Surprise, the authors found that “Intermediate and advanced concepts in medication adherence, such as conducting interventions, are not adequately covered in pharmacy curriculums”. Disappointing outcome as medication … Read more

Pharmacy student adherence to a simulated medication regimen

A Tweet from Anthony Cox (@drarcox) led me to this article in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. In this study, 72 second-year pharmacy students were given “medications” (Starburst JellyBeans) to take with varying administration schedules. The table below shows the results of the little experiment, and it speaks volumes. Not surprisingly a “once daily” regimen was … Read more

Effect of med reconciliation on med cost after hospital D/C [article]

The Annals of Pharmacotherapy March 20121 BACKGROUND: Medication reconciliation aims to correct discrepancies in medication use between health care settings and to check the quality of pharmacotherapy to improve effectiveness and safety. In addition, medication reconciliation might also reduce costs. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of medication reconciliation on medication costs after hospital discharge in … Read more