2009 brought many new and exciting changes not only in my personal life, but in the world of pharmacy and technology as well. I’ve learned many new things, gained some skills previously absent from my armamentarium, met some great new people, discovered the “real” internet for the first time, traveled more than ever before, discovered I don’t know diddly squat about a great many things, and am more excited about the next year than I can remember in recent history.
Below is a list of opinions about a great many things that I have seen and done over the past year. Some are pharmacy related, some are technology related, some are personal, and some are just random thoughts.
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A study in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (Vol: 73, Issue 06, Article: 104) took a look at issues related to Facebook usage, accountability, privacy, online image and e-professionalism among students entering pharmacy school
The study was conducted via a questionnaire consisting of 21 questions administered to 299 incoming pharmacy students. Of the 299 students surveyed, 244 (88%) had an existing Facebook profile. The average daily time spent of Facebook was approximately 22 minutes.
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I can’t help myself. I’m constantly tinkering with one thing or another when it comes to my laptop. Lately I’ve been playing around with different internet browsers. Like everyone else, I cut my teeth using Internet Explorer (IE); mainly because it was the only browser out there for a long time. Things have certainly changed as there are now several browsers to choose from and IE is no longer king.
On occasion I will download the most recent version reincarnation of IE. I’m not sure why I do it, but I do. No matter what changes Microsoft makes the browsing experience just isn’t what it could be. IE improves with each release to be sure, but the improvements always seem to come up short.
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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. Read more…
Web 2.0 has certainly created an information revolution. I used to rely solely on journal articles to keep me up to date. Now I rely on an internet connection. Unfortunately, this creates a situation where information arrives faster than I can digest it, and if you’re not careful you can drown in the excess and end up not learning a thing.
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A few days back I posted a small blog on pharmacy and the entire 2.0 (two-point-oh) movement. The article generated a couple of comments that brought my attention to an excellent article by Todd Eury describing the use of WEB 2.0 and pharmacy. Eury (of PTR) does a good job of getting to the essence of the Web 2.0 movement.
In his blog Eury states that “According to Tim O’Reilly: “Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. ”
These tools provide you with a unique approach to forming better ties to your customers. Blogging is a great way to start…You could feature biographies on your (willing) staff and create a common place for customer comments and interaction. Interaction is the key. It’s a social medium that enables you to reach out to your customers as creatively as you want.”
Examples of internet social medium given include Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook. All very popular and effective tools for communication.
An article in InformationWeek on social networking in large companies tends to agree with Eury’s assessment that Web 2.0 technology and social networking has its place.
