Microneedle patch for monitoring drug levels

Medgadget: “A collaboration between researchers at the University of British Columbia and Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland has developed a microneedle device for drug monitoring. The device is in a form of a patch that’s stuck onto the skin, painlessly pushing microneedles through to sample the interstitial fluid…The proof-of-concept device reported by the team was … Read more

Crowdsourcing pharmacokinetic data

Pharmacokinetics is something that every hospital pharmacist is intimately familiar with. It just so happens to be one of the things that physicians routinely ask pharmacist to handle. It’s not that doing pharmacokinetic (PK) calculations is difficult, but crunching the numbers can be time consuming and there are occasional traps that can lead to problems … Read more

Saturday morning coffee [June 7 2013]: Fast & Furious 6, Peach Cobbler, PRISM, Pharmacy, MedPod

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 headline for SMC is a bit different today in case you haven’t noticed. I’ve taken the advice of a Twitter colleague, Charles Webster, MD (@EHRworkflow). Charles has recommended a couple of times now that I make my headline more descriptive. I like the idea so I’m giving it a shot. Feedback welcome.

My trip to Minneapolis, MN for the ASHP Summer Meeting has me waxing nostalgic. The coffee cup below was my trophy for winning the first ever ASHP Midyear Meeting Twitter contest. I’m not even sure what year it was, but I believe it was 2009; don’t hold me to that recollection though. At that time ASHP  was unable to use any of the official Twitter logos due to some time of licensing issues. So instead they generated a Wordle from my website and placed it on the mug you see below. My Twitter handle (@JFahrni) and web address (JerryFahrni.com) are displayed on the back near the handle.

ASHP Twitter contest mug

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RxCalc 1.2 ready for download – want a free copy?

RxCalc 1.2 has been approved by the powers to be at Apple and is now available for download in the iTunes store.  For those of you that don’t know about RxCalc, it is a pharmacokinetics calculator made by Apple Core Labs specifically designed to handle aminoglycoside and vancomycin kinetics, i.e. new starts and adjustments. I’ve been intimately involved with the development of RxCalc, and you can read more about what drove the idea and the development of it here if you’re interested.

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Hi-Tech patch for migraine relief

Zelrix is a transdermal patch containing sumatriptan for the treatment of acute migraine headache developed by NuPathe, a pharmaceutical company specializing in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The patch is based on NuPathe’s proprietary SmartReliefâ„¢ platform, which according to the manufacturer’s website is “a non-invasive technology that utilizes low-level electrical energy to transport … Read more

Why I wanted RxCalc

I have a couple of passions when it comes to pharmacy. The first is a love of pharmacy technology. Very few pharmacists have an appreciation for the “operations” side of pharmacy which includes automated dispensing cabinets, automated carousels, automated TPN compounders, Pharmacy Information System, etc. These tools are absolutely necessary if we want to get pharmacists out of the physical pharmacy and at the bedside where they belong. My second passion is a little less known discipline known as pharmacokinetics. I have no idea why I like pharmacokinetics; I just do. Some kids like PB&J and some don’t. It’s just the way it is.

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Pharmacokinetics on the iPhone/iPod Touch

Apple Core Labs Blog: “Apple Core Labs first iPhone/iPod Touch application, RxCalc, is now available on the iPhone App Store.” RxCalc is an idea that my brother and I have had for quite some time. The idea for a portable pharmacokinetics calculator originated many years ago during my infatuation with the TRGpro and the Palm Operating  System. … Read more