“What’d I miss?” – Week of June 14th

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.

– “The Hangover” was #1 at the box office last weekend. The movie earns its “R” rating, but is pretty darn funny.

- The ASHP Summer Meeting was held in Chicago this week. The conference was small, but informative. I had the privilege of attending and picked up quite a bit of useful information about pharmacy automation. While there, I threw in a visit to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

– During my visit to Chicago I was introduced to Live Mesh, an online synchronization platform from Microsoft still in the beta phase. I started using the service immediately upon my return, and have been pleased with the results thus far. Thank you Darcy. As long as we are speaking about Microsoft I should mention that the company has granted Windows XP a stay of execution to as late as April 20011. I’m glad Microsoft came around. Windows XP has been a solid platform to work from, while Vista has been a bit of a disappointment. Then again, all Windows platforms are a bit of a disappointment when compared to Mac OS X.

- CCHIT held two online Town Calls on June 16 and 17 to gather input for electronic health record (EHR) technologies and their new certification paths. The three paths include: EHR-C – Certified EHR Comprehensive (the same certification as the CCHIT has done in the past), EHR-M – Certified EHR Module (certification of a particular module available from a vendor), EHR-S – Certified EHR Site (certification for a location that acknowledges they meet the ARRA requirements). A copy of the presentation slides can be found here.

- HealthcareIT News: The Premier healthcare alliance chose 23 hospitals across the country as top performers based on “commitment to high-quality patient care and operational efficiency.” The entire list of 23 hospitals can be seen here.

- theMobileHealthCrowd has a great article on the “101 Things To Do With A Mobile Phone In Healthcare“. It’s wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, but it was still an interesting article. I wanted a literal list of 101 things I could do with my mobile phone. I’m a bit picky that way.

- Medscape reports that “Dietary supplementation with elemental calcium, 1500 mg/day, for 2 years may not improve weight loss in overweight and obese adults, according to the results of a randomized, placebo-controlled trial reported in the June 16 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.” In fact the actual conclusion of the article goes on to say “Calcium supplementation is unlikely to have clinically significant efficacy as a preventive measure against weight gain in such patients.” The article is available for free and can be read at the Annals site. So much for all those milk commercials.

- WebMD reports that the supplement Stamina-Rx made by Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals Inc. was recalled secondary to containing benzamidenafil. For those of you that don’t recognize the drug name, think sildenafil, which goes by the brand name Viagra. Unfortunately that class of drugs can cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure when combined with nitrates, a common medication used in people with heart conditions.

– The iPhone 3G S is available for pickup at your local AT&T store today. I asked about ordering a new iPhone 3G S and the salesman informed me that there was currently a 14 day backlog of orders. Apple has single handedly changed the mobile phone industry with the iPhone. Now that’s amazing.