“What’d I miss?” – Week of June 22nd

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 Proposal“ was #1 at the box office last weekend. Seriously? I suppose someone has to be #1. Transformers will crush everyone this weekend. Don’t doubt that for a second.

– Healthcare IT Consultant has a list of 15 free iPhone healthcare apps. It’s an interesting list, but the only two apps worth mentioning for pharmacists are ePocrates and MedCalc.

– PTR: “Do you think filling scripts alone is going to keep your business thriving? It’s time to step outside your everyday operations BOX and get creative! … Data Mining … It can only provide value if the organization has invested in the right resources. I am not talking about software here; I am talking about the analyst. I can guarantee you, with little hesitation, that there is a gold mine of knowledge and value in your data.” – This is right on the mark. A pharmacist and colleague that I hold in high regard once told me that “anyone can collect data, but not everyone knows what to do with it.” Of course he was the keeper of the data and used his skills to turn it into a symphony of information.

– InformationWeek.com: “Google (NSDQ: GOOG) on Tuesday endorsed the Declaration of Health Data Rights, a set of principles designed to promote consumer empowerment, privacy protection, and data portability.  The principles state that people should have the right to their own health data, the right to know the source of that data, the right to records of that data in the form that it is stored — paper or electronic, and the right to share that data….” – People already have the right to their health care data. All you have to do is ask. Getting that information in an electronic format is a different story.

– RxInformatics.com: “Before we implemented BCMA I think I agreed with your current position.  In fact, I’m sure I would agreed with you half way through our two year implementation.  Now that we have completed implementation I’ve really grown to appreciate the benefits.  Interestingly, for me the benefits go beyond the “5-rights …” everybody talks about.” – The post goes on to discuss some of the unexpected benefits experienced by the University of Colorado Hospital following implementation of their barcode medication administration (BCMA) system.

– Medscape.com: “The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), at its Annual Summer Meeting and Exhibition, held from June 14 to 17 in Rosemont, Illinois, passed a new policy on “credentialing and privileging of pharmacists by regulators, payers, and providers for collaborative drug-therapy management.” It supports the development of national standards for determining a pharmacist’s competence to provide collaborative drug-therapy management. The new recommendations replace the ASHP’s previous policy recognizing licensure as the only state-imposed legal requirement for pharmacists providing collaborative drug-therapy management.” – Following this statement is an interesting interview with ASHP President Lynnae Mahaney. I’m not really sure I like what she had to say.

- Engadget.com: “As you know, it wouldn’t be a typical day in the blog mines without some revolutionary battery news, and for today’s fuel cell fix we’d like to present the Thinergy Micro Energy Cell. Developed by Infinite Power Solutions and consisting of “a new class of electronic component that bridges the performance gap between batteries and supercapacitors,” the battery is downright lilliputian: about the thickness of a postage stamp, and half the area at its smallest. Since the battery requires a minimum of four volts to charge (with the ability to hold its charge for years) these guys are perfect for RFID cards and Big Brother-style thought-control implants. Tinfoil helmet squad: You’ve been warned!” – Did someone say something about RFID?

– Discovery Channel: “A robotic surgeon at Duke University has successfully found and guided a needle to a sliver of steel shrapnel, completely without human help. The technology could reduce the cost and time necessary to complete a biopsy and other surgical operations.” – While I appreciate the technology, it’s still a little creepy.

– GottaBeMobile.com reports on a Motion Computing J3400 tablet running Windows 7. They were impressed and I drooled.

– TechCrunch.com: “Twitter has a history of killing off features in order to stay up. And it looks like it had to do that again today, in the wake the avalanche of tweets that are flowing in following Michael Jackson’s death. Gone are Search and Trending Topics from logged-in Twitter account main pages.” – This is a testimony to the popularity of micro-blogging.