Jerry Fahrni

Author: Jerry Fahrni

  • Who should collect allergy information and how should it be done?

    pulling out hairA pharmacists review of a patient medication regimen is never complete without a thorough evaluation of the patients allergy history. Unfortunately our hospital information system suffers from the inability to prevent people from being human and making mistakes. Our clinical information system permits ‘free texting’ of allergy information, resulting in misspelled drug names and therefore allergies that aren’t electronically checked against medication orders. You know the old saying: garbage in, garbage out.
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  • Drug information resources

    Below is a list of drug information resources for both mobile devices and online access. I’ve used most, but not all, of these resources and have found the mobile versions to be a valuable resource when you’re on the go. While it is possible to access the online versions of these resources via a smartphone, the mobile applications are designed with the smaller screen in mind and therefore, in my opinion, work better then the online versions when using a mobile device.

    Let me know if I missed any. Also feel free to comment on your favorite.
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  • Best of the web, well for today anyway

    Just some items of interest that various folks on Twitter forced me to read.
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  • Final thoughts on Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC

    dell_latitude_xt2_tablet_pcI’ve been using a Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC for a couple of months now. It goes with me to all my meetings and has replaced my stack of legal pads I used to have in my office. Is it a perfect replacement? No, but it’s good enough that I don’t think I’ll go back to paper anytime soon.

    Overall I’ve been pretty happy with this tablet and have grown quite accustomed to using it for almost all my computing needs. While I don’t think it will take the place of a desktop PC anytime soon, it is more than capable of stepping in as a replacement for my laptop.
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  • Twitter vs. RSS Reader … who cares.

    I’ve been following an interesting debate about the benefits of Twitter versus RSS readers like Google Reader. The debate started with a question posed by Robert Scoble on friendfeed and spilled over into several blogs; siliconANGLE, louisgray.com, Scobleizer and Newsome.Org.

    I love reading stuff like this because you can see the passion that everyone has for their little corner of the technology world. It’s even more interesting when you consider that it’s a completely personal choice. Boxers or briefs, who gives a crap as long as you’re comfortable.
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  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of October 25th

    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.
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  • The HTC Imagio is a pretty nice smartphone

    htc_imagioI stopped by my local Verizon Wireless store to check out some of their new phones, specifically the BlackBerry Storm2 and the HTC Imagio. The Storm2 is definitely nicer than the original Storm, but the Imagio was more impressive.

    The HTC Imagio is an aesthetically pleasing device, created in the image of the iPhone. The thing that immediately caught my attention was the 3.6”, 400×800 HD touch screen. It is very nice and very responsive to touch. The Imagio runs on Windows Mobile 6.5, the newest version of the mobile operating system. In addition, the phone uses the TouchFLO 3D user interface designed by HTC, making navigation on the phone simple and intuitive.

    Overall, I like the HTC Imagio and would definitely consider it as my next phone. However, I’ll wait for the big droid release from Verizon before I make my final decision.

  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy

    The MedBoard Medication Tracking System (MTS) from Baxa is a web-based medication system designed to help you track the flow of medications from entry in the pharmacy system to delivery on the nursing unit. The MTS can be integrated into you pharmacy workflow as part of your existing bar coding system.
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  • Why my Firefox browser is more advanced than our hospital’s HIS

    frustration.cartoonEach day I roll into work ready for another exciting day of pharmacy technology. I’m usually bright-eyed and ready for a new challenge because I’ve spent the previous night scouring the web and reading about all the incredible technology being put into place all over the world; tablet pcs, electronic paper and ink, advanced nanoparticles, automated dispensing devices, mobile phones, advances in social networking, and so on ad infinitum. Then there are days like today when I have something land in my lap that just makes me shake my head and wonder if healthcare will ever catch up to the rest of the world.
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  • Sugar-Coated nanoparticles hold promise for cancer treatment

    A research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in cooperation with researchers at The Johns Hopkins University, Dartmouth College, the University of Manitoba and two biopharmaceutical companies have discovered that sugar-coated bits of iron oxide under certain circumstances can be deadly to tumors. The 100 nanometer wide sugar-coated iron oxide nanoparticles are attracted to tumor cells, where they can be heated magnetically, thus causing damage to the cells.
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