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Initial reaction to FDA stance on syringes as standalone storage container

By Jerry Fahrni on October 9, 2015

This morning I woke to the news that No Syringe Is Approved as a Standalone Storage Container, FDA Says. This I’m sure is in response to the recent issue with BD syringes and drug stability. I need to think about this more, but my gut reaction is that this is huge and will have a […]

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Is multi-dose packaging really a solution to medication adherence?

By Jerry Fahrni on September 8, 2015

Multi-dose packaging has been a part of pharmacy for longer than I’ve been a pharmacist. It’s mostly been limited to long term care (LTC), such as nursing homes, rehab facilities, etc. It’s not something that’s commonly used in acute care hospitals for a host of reasons, most notably medication regimens frequently change in acute care […]

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BD Intelliport System receives recognition

By Jerry Fahrni on August 27, 2015

I wrote about BD Intelliport back in January. It’s an impressive system. Others think so, too.

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Using data to build proactive drug error prevention models

By Jerry Fahrni on August 25, 2015

“Data is variously described as the oxygen of the digital economy or the new raw material of the 21st century.“-Nigel Shadbolt There are more than a few issues with today’s medication order entry systems. However, in this post I want to focus on only two. First, alert fatigue. As a pharmacist that has entered his […]

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Cool pharmacy technology – SMART-IV

By Jerry Fahrni on August 24, 2015

Not exactly pharmacy technology. However, SMART-IV involves integration of iv infusions with bar code scanning at the patient bedside. That’s kind of pharmacy related, in a sort of roundabout way. Check the video below for a look at how the system works. The commentary is in Dutch, so if you don’t speak Dutch you might […]

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Pharmacy – entrenched in outdated dogma

By Jerry Fahrni on June 4, 2015

Dogma: belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted (Merriam-Webster) I have opinions, lots of opinions. And like most, I believe my opinions are valid; it’s human nature. It’s not uncommon for me to find people within a group that agree and disagree with […]

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“Improving Safety and Efficiency in the IV Room” : thoughts on the ASHP webinar

By Jerry Fahrni on May 22, 2015

I previously wrote about a live webinar put on by ASHP – Improving Safety and Efficiency in the IV Room: Key Features of Automated Workflow Systems – on Wednesday, May 20 2015. The webinar was made up of three separate, 20 minute presentations: Medication Error Reduction Strategy Using Dispense Preparation and Dispense Check by Tom Lausten, RPh, […]

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Managing medication trays in acute care pharmacy

By Jerry Fahrni on March 31, 2015

Medication trays – a.k.a. med trays, code trays/kits/boxes/bags, transport trays/kits/boxes/bags, intubation kits, C-section trays, anesthesia trays, and so on ad infinitum – are common in acute care pharmacies.  I’ve seen them in every variation you can imagine in every pharmacy I’ve ever been in. Depending on the situation, med trays can contain a large number […]

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Automated intravenous fluid monitoring at the bedside

By Jerry Fahrni on March 26, 2015

Over the years I’ve had a lot of ideas, some good and some not. When an idea comes to me I typically record it in a notebook that I have sitting on my desk. Occasionally I return to the notebook and review the ideas to see how many of the ideas still have merit. Sometimes […]

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Saturday morning coffee [February 21 2015]

By Jerry Fahrni on February 21, 2015

“An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” – Orlando A. Battista So much happens each and every week, and 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 mug below was sitting next […]

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