Jerry Fahrni

Author: Jerry Fahrni

  • Quick hit – what value do you place on experience?

    It’s been a bad week for me in terms of hospital systems giving me problems. We’ve had issues with our electronic document management system, our Pyxis system and the nursing interface with pharmacy; lots of late nights and early mornings. Who knows, maybe it has something to do with the full moon coming up tomorrow.

    Anyway, during a particularly sticky time with Pyxis I was fortunate enough to get in contact with someone who had experienced the problem before. Instead of causing me numerous hours of troubleshooting, I was on my way home only two hours later than normal.

    This brings up and interesting question, what value do you place on experienced staff? I’m of the opinion that experienced people are extremely valuable to any organization. I look at all the bright faces of the new pharmacists we hire and can’t believe I was ever that green. They’re intelligent and hardworking, but lack certain skills that can only be developed by working as a pharmacist over several years.

    I’ve always wondered what it would be like to offer pharmacists sabbaticals similar to those offered to professors at many universities. You know, find facilities across the country that are doing something better than you and trade pharmacists for a period of perhaps three months.

    There is always a better way to do things and the only way to pick up this information is to experience it for your self. I, for one, get bored easily and like to experience new things. There are several facilities that I would like to spend some time at learning new ways to use our technology. Who knows, I may have something to offer them in exchange. It’s just a thought.

  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of October 11th

    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.
    (more…)

  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy

    A group of researches has created a hydrogel membrane that “opens” and “closes” in response to magnetic flux. The discovery could lead to delivery systems capable of precision drug therapy for a host of conditions.
    (more…)

  • Which internet browser do you prefer?

    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.
    (more…)

  • The “cloud” gets a black eye

    InformationWeek: “Think of the one million T-Mobile Sidekick customers that may have lost important data last week. Think of the dozens of CIOs that anxiously waited for Workday to restore its SaaS service on Sept 24. Cloud computing has created a new era of accountability, and we must demand that tech vendors work harder than ever to prove their trustworthiness. In both of these instances, customers were completely dependent on their vendors to manage their data. And in both instances, technical failures are to blame. The growth of cloud computing is not going to let up—we’re not going to suddenly start moving away from the Internet and speedy networks and store more data on our home PCs and company servers—so it’s time that everyone, from consumers up to CIOs at the world’s biggest companies, start asking questions and demanding accountability from their vendors.” – Cloud computing has been taking a beating in the press lately. Everywhere I turn someone on the internet is talking about the Sidekick fiasco, and I have to agree that permanently losing your customers data is inexcusable. However, this type of failure happens in the “non-cloud” environment as well, you just don’t hear about it. Last year our facility had an email server fail. Some, but not all, data was lost and we were without email services for nearly two weeks. It was the most productive time of my life. The cloud model is relatively immature at this point in time and will suffer failures and setbacks as it continues to develop. Hopefully the Sidekick failure has provided us with a valuable lesson that will be used to further improve the cloud. Only time will tell.

  • Looking forward to clinical advancement with Windows 7

    HealthBlog: ““For example, as the use of tablet PCs within healthcare continues to grow, many of us will welcome the improved hand-writing recognition facility in Windows 7. It also learns, so the recognition gets better the more I use it.” He says the same is true for voice recognition: “I just talk to my PC and it does what I want, from opening programs to dictating letters.” The true party piece of Windows 7, though, is its support for touch – not just touchscreens but what has come to be called ‘gesturing’; support for a sophisticated but more naturalistic way of interacting with technology. “Clinicians are able to zoom in on an image by moving two fingers closer together, like they’re pinching something, or zoom out by moving two fingers apart,” says Dr Crounse. “They’ll even be able to move an image on the screen by rotating one finger around another, and right-click by holding one finger on their target while tapping the screen with another.” This sort of natural manipulation of text, images and multimedia will make computer equipment less obtrusive in the clinician-patient relationship; and should make technology accessible to many communities which use healthcare extensively, yet were previously somewhat overlooked by IT: for example the elderly.” – I’ve been a proponent of touch technology for quite a while and firmly believe that it will have a positive impact on healthcare professionals. We’ve already seen an explosion in the number of devices developed to take advantage of Windows 7 and multi-touch technology. I, for one, can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Windows 7 to install on my tablet.

  • Using technology to advance pharmacy practice through education

    funny_tech_cartoonI found an interesting article in the October issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. The article, titled Informatics in clinical instruction (Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2009 Oct 1;66(19):1694, 1699), gives a description of a software system designed by the authors that “allows students at one site to receive online and teleconference instruction from preceptors at multiple sites through remote, interactive discussion. It also allows “blogging” based on assigned videotapes, simulation modules, live patient cases, discussion questions, and primary literature review. In addition, the system facilitates clinical encounter documentation, including interviewing patients, taking physical assessments (e.g., blood pressure), taking medication histories, assessing for adverse effects (e.g., abnormal involuntary movements), and addressing potential or actual medication-related problems(MRPs).”
    (more…)

  • How to perform an autopsy without getting dirty.

    Norrköping Visualization Centre and the Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization in Sweden have developed a Virtual Autopsy Table. The table makes use of high resolution MRIs to create incredible 3D images that can be manipulated on the table via multi-touch technology.
    (more…)

  • What tablet PC information did I miss? [Week of October 4th]

    I’m constantly trolling the internet for information on tablet PCs. What can I say, I’m addicted. And believe me, there’s was no shortage of stuff to read this week. Reports of the death of the tablet PC have been greatly exaggerated. I was going to add these thoughts to the “What’d I miss” post from yesterday, but it was just too much information. Anyway, here’s some tablet PC stuff I found interesting this week.
    (more…)

  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of October 4th

    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. (more…)