As barcoding in pharmacies grows in popularity I get exposed to more and more barcoding equipment; particularly barcode scanners. Our carousels utilize barcode scanners from Code Corp, our AutoPack system utilizes a barcode scanner from Honeywell – previously Handheld – and our barcode medication administration system will use a yet-to-be-determined scanner. In addition, I’ve accumulated a nice collection of various scanners in my office including wireless, Bluetooth and tethered.
Month: December 2009
Requirements for a pharmacy informatics professional
In a post from ASHP Midyear I mention that “pharmacists are highly educated clinicians that deserve to practice informatics at that same level. [They] should be the individual involved in making sure that systems are designed to include pharmacy workflow, that the reports being written provide the necessary information to be clinically relevant, that current clinical standards are adhered to during implementation of new systems, be the representative at the table during discussions of integration and interoperability of hospital systems, etcâ€
A couple of things caught my eye since writing those words and I would like to share them with you here.
Cool Technology for Pharmacy
My Cool Technology for Pharmacy this week strays a little from my normal hardware and software approach and focuses on the concept of RxNorm. The reason for this deviation is simple; my ignorance of RxNorm was never more evident than during my time at ASHP Midyear this week. I don’t like it when I lack understanding of what people are talking about, and this happened on a couple of occasions during discussions involving RxNorm. This was especially true during a presentation by Dr. Usha Desiraju of First DataBank. Dr. Desiraju’s presentation focused on the use of RxNorm and interoperability.
So I was forced to do a little reading. The entire idea seems simple enough, but like many good ideas implementation and acceptance is a little like trying to push the wrong end of two magnets together. In the simplest terms I can muster, think of RxNorm as a standardized language used to identify each unique medication across multiple systems.
Update ASHP #Midyear2009
Today was a good day for informatics at ASHP Midyear. Pharmacy 2.0: How the Web is Changing How We Practice This was a great session moderated by John Poikonen (@poikonen), PharmD or RxInformatics.com. John defined Pharmacy 2.0 as the combination of ASHP’s practice model, participatory medicine, health reform, and self-reform, i.e. changing the way you … Read more
Exhibit Hall ASHP #Midyear2009
I finally had an opportunity to roam around the exhibit hall at the ASHP Midyear today. Of course I had to sacrifice a session to attend, but it was worth it. If you’ve never been in the exhibit hall at one of these events you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Update ASHP #Midyear2009
The first, and most interesting, session I attended today was “Integrating Technology to Improve Medication-Use Patient Safetyâ€. The session was sponsored by Hospira and consisted of three separate speakers covering areas of the medication–use process where breakdowns typically occur. The focus was on closed-loop medication administration. I’m sure there are different opinions on what closed-loop medication administration is, but for our purposes it consists of orders from the time written until the medication is administered to the patient. Many technologies were discussed, including computerized provider order entry (CPOE), bar code medication administration (BCMA), intelligent infusion devices (IIDs), and electronic medication records (EMRs) among others.
Talyst User Group – ASHP #Midyear2009
Tonight’s ASHP activity consisted of attending the Talyst User Group. It was a pretty big turnout, probably three times the size of the one I attended in Chicago in June.
ASHP Midyear 2009 – “The Plan”
I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my plane to board and getting my agenda together. Below is my plan of attack for my time in Vegas. Of course it’s all just speculation at this point as I have an affinity to stray from my plans based on what I find interesting. I also need … Read more
“What’d I miss?” – Week of November 29th
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.
Cool Technology for Pharmacy
Entering and making pediatric drips for pharmacists working in an adult hospital can be a real sphincter tightener. Pharmacists that aren’t accustomed to working with pediatric patients feel a little bit uneasy when an order shows up for a customized dopamine, dobutamine, etc. I remember working in a pediatric facility where we did this kind of thing all the time and no one gave it a second thought. We used a combination of two standardized concentrations, hi and low, for each commonly ordered drip. For code blue situations we often used the “Rule of 6’sâ€, which is now discouraged by the Joint Commission.