Jerry Fahrni

Author: Jerry Fahrni

  • Motion Computing LE1700 tablet being discontinued

    GottaBeMobile.com: “It looks like Motion Computing’s LE1700 days are numbered, which is unfortunate because the nice tapered design was always one of my favorites. A newsletter was just sent out saying that the LE1700 would only available while supplies last, which means they are not making any more. If interested, contact a reseller today for $100 off. ” – This really is unfortunate, the Le1700 tablet is a nice machine. We use this slate model on the floor to help our pharmacists get real time access to patient information, drug information resources, etc. It’s been a great tool for getting the pharmacists out of the physical pharmacy and out on the floor where they have a greater impact on patient care. Motion Computing will probably begin pushing the J3400 tablet PC which is tougher and faster than the LE1700.

    motion_tablets

  • Government driving clound computing

    InformationWeek.com: ” Cloud computing may still be emerging as an IT delivery model, but U.S. government agencies are forging ahead with plans to adopt cloud services or build their own. The attitude among government technology decision makers seems to be that the benefits outweigh the risks and that the risks can be mitigated with planning and careful implementation. With a nudge from federal CIO Vivek Kundra — Kundra was an early adopter of Google Apps when he was CTO for the District of Columbia — a growing number of federal agencies are plugging into the cloud. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), for example, is well along in building an internal cloud in its data centers. And NASA’s Ames Research Center recently launched a cloud computing environment called Nebula. At the same time, government technology planners are working to ensure that the rollouts go smoothly. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has drafted a definition of cloud computing to keep implementers on the right track. And the General Services Administration has issued an RFI to cloud service and platform providers, in an effort to scope out the market in advance of demand.” – Hold the phone. How could healthcare let the federal government get ahead in the “cloud computing” race? Shouldn’t the level of bureaucracy in the government allow us to pull ahead? Healthcare better wake up and get to work before they are forced to follow “cloud computing” standards developed the National Institute of Standards and Technology . As a rule of thumb, one should never let governments dictate the future of technology.

  • What’s the “green grade” for your healthcare organization?

    HealthBlog: “Going Green in Healthcare IT and improving organizational efficiency along the way – Strategies to improve “operational efficiency” in healthcare organizations are a recurring theme here on HealthBlog.  That’s why I wanted to share a new article on Green IT written by my colleague Chris Sullivan who manages our US health provider industry for Microsoft.  I know that Chris and his team would be very pleased to work with you directly or point you to additional resources in your quest to drive greater efficiency in your organization—a mission, in these challenging economic times, that has never been more important.”
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  • 2009 ‘Most Wired Hospitals’

    Healthcare IT News: “The Most Wired Survey and Benchmarking study, conducted annually by Hospitals and Health Networks, has named the “100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems” for 2009. The survey measured the use of information technology at 1,314 hospitals for quality, customer service, public health and safety, business processes and workforce issues. The magazine also released lists of the “25 Most Improved,” the “25 Most Wireless” and the “25 Most Wired – Small and Rural” hospitals.” – The article goes on to list the winning hospitals, sorted by state. I’m sad to say we are not on the list. Maybe next year.

  • Panasonic robot drug dispenser

    Engadget.com: “Panasonic isn’t the first company to turn to robots as a means for dispensing drugs, but it looks like it’s set to become one of the bigger players in the still fledgling field, with it announcing today that it’s developing a robot that it hopes will rake it about 30 billion yen (or $315 million) by 2016. Unfortunately, Panasonic isn’t quite ready to actually show off the robot just yet, but it says it could be making the rounds at some Japanese hospitals by next March, and head into the United States and Europe sometime after that. It’s also not ready to do much talking about specifics, with it only going so far as to say that it “does not look humanoid” but rather looks like “a cabinet with lots of small drawers”, and that it’ll be able to store medical data for each patient and sort out prescriptions for up to 400 patients in about two hours. That cabinet won’t come cheap though, with Panasonic estimating that it’ll cost “several tens of millions of yen,” or hundreds of thousands of dollars.” – When I was a pharmacy student at UCSF there was an automated drug dispensing robot roaming the halls. The robot was affectionately called Elvis. It was pretty cool to see him roll out of the elevator and down the hall to the nursing station, but he was nothing like ASIMO.

  • Pharmacokinetics on the iPhone/iPod Touch

    iphone_mainmed2Apple Core Labs Blog: “Apple Core Labs first iPhone/iPod Touch application, RxCalc, is now available on the iPhone App Store.”

    RxCalc is an idea that my brother and I have had for quite some time. The idea for a portable pharmacokinetics calculator originated many years ago during my infatuation with the TRGpro and the Palm Operating  System. The timing for the application was never quite right, but the appearance of the iPhone changed all that. The portability, advanced features and popularity of the iPhone make it the ideal platform for developing a portable pharmacokinetics calculator.

    RxCalc was designed as a tool for pharmacists to perform aminoglycoside and vancomycin kinetics, including new starts using population parameters and dosage adjustments using levels.

    The code and user interface was written and developed by Apple Core Labs (Robert Fahrni), while I was responsible for the math and user experience (i.e. the workflow).

    Apple Core Labs would like to recruit some pharmacists to use the application and provide feedback, good or bad. To receive a free promotional code redeemable at the iTunes store stop by the Apple Core Labs Blog and simply follow the instructions.

    rxcalcmain

    rxadjust rxnewresults

  • ASHP Makes Recommendations for Definition of “Meaningful Use”

    ASHP.org: “In a recent letter to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, ASHP said the definition of meaningful use should include the following three elements: interoperability of medication orders and prescriptions; medication decision support and continuous improvement; and the ability to report and quantify improved patient safety, quality outcomes, and cost-effectiveness in the medication-use process.” – Kind of vague, don’t you think. I expected a little more aggressive stance.


  • Pharmacy school requires iPhone/iPod Touch

    AppleInsider.com: “The University of Florida is the second school in as many months to announce that students enrolling in one of its curriculums this fall will be required to own either an iPhone or iPod touch, highlighting an increasing role for Apple’s multi-touch devices in higher education.” –When I graduated from pharmacy school in 1997, a laptop was considered really big news.  I wonder where we’ll be in another ten years. Who knows, but I’m looking forward to it.

  • Beyond patient safety with technology and automation

    I had reason to do some thinking about healthcare automation over the weekend, and after much thought decided that healthcare, specifically pharmacy, was a little strange in several ways. As an industry, healthcare rarely looks beyond patient safety when talking about technology and automation. Let’s face it, patient safety is the rally cry for any department in need of a jumpstart to complete a project that has stalled for one reason or another. Unfortunately the investment of time, energy and capital resources typically stops immediately after implementation secondary to meeting the patient safety goal. However, this model seldom allows for technology and automation to be taken to the next logical step.
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  • Open source software for hospital use.

    HIT Consultant Blog: “…But bringing state-of-the-art technology to health care is expensive, often running well into eight figures. Still, there are ways to keep the cost down and also provide excellent care. Forbes caught up with David Whiles, CIO of Midland Memorial Hospital in Midland, Texas, to look at ways to save huge amounts of money without sacrificing quality…So what did you do? – We came across the VistA (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) system, which was developed by the Veterans Administration. That’s used by all the 160-plus VA hospitals in the United States, plus all of their outpatient ambulatory clinics. It’s been in use by the Veterans Administration for more than 20 years. It’s a very mature system. It’s won a number of accolades from the Institute of Medicine.” – Imagine that, open source software being used in a hospital. The software may be a few years old, but thinking outside the box and implementing open source software in a hospital sure sounds cutting edge to me. Where do I apply?