I’ve been on a mission, however small it may be, to get pharmacy technicians more involved in the operational aspect of acute care pharmacy. And by more involved I mean using a tech-check-tech model to free pharmacists up for more patient related clinical activities. I’ve posted my thoughts on the use of tech-check-tech before. The reason [...]
The Spiroscout Inhaler Tracker by Asthmapolis is a small device that attaches to the top of an inhaler. The unit is GPS capable so that each time the inhaler is used, the GPS unit records the time the medication was taken and the patients location. What a great tool to not only help asthmatics control their [...]
Hospitals make a lot of intravenous (IV) preparations. That makes sense when you consider that most people admitted to the hospital are there because their acute illness requires more care than can be administered at home; not always, but in most cases. This is especially true for patients in the intensive care unit, i.e. the [...]
Recently I’ve been in bit of a blogging slump. The world of technology suddenly appears a little less exciting. In fact, I find myself thinking of current technology as boring. I read lots of blog posts and articles that refer to new technologies as “revolutionary”, but I haven’t seen much revolutionary technology lately. In fact, most of [...]
As usual there were a lot of things that happened during the week, and not all of it was pharmacy or technology related. Here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I found interesting.
I’m sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight for Atlanta to attend the unSUMMIT. This will be my first time attending the unSUMMIT and I’m getting pretty excited about it; like I get before every conference I attend. The unSUMMIT is billed as a place to get information on barcode point-of-care technology (BPOC), [...]
The Swisslog BoxPicker is an automated alternative to carousel technology for drug storage and retrieval. Unlike the open shelf architecture of automated carousel storage the BoxPicker offers access to medications via a single-opening/loading drawer process. Once you get past the name, the technology is impressive. The most interesting thing about the Swisslog BoxPicker however, is [...]
I’ve been carrying a Motorola DROID since Verizon made it available back in November 2009. I’ve enjoyed many of its features and consider it a great mobile device. Recently I came into possession of an iPhone. I’ve wanted an iPhone for quite some time, but have been quite outspoken about not switching to AT&T because [...]
ASHP and the ASHP Research and Education Foundation have partnered to take a long hard look at what pharmacy practice looks like now and what it needs to look like in the future. The venture is called the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative, or PPMI. According to the ASHP PPMI website “there is an urgent need to create [...]
I’ve had a couple of eye opening conversations over the last week that have me concerned about the thought process surrounding pharmacy technology, where we’re going with it and what it’s supposed to do for us. Rule #1: “That’s what the computer told me to do” simply isn’t justification for doing something that makes no [...]
