Jerry Fahrni

Author: Jerry Fahrni

  • Aethon launches TraySafe at #ASHPSM15 in Denver

    I’ve been at the ASHP Summer Meeting in Denver this week roaming the exhibit hall looking for interesting new products. One product that caught my attention was TraySafe by Aethon.

    TraySafe is a medication tray management system. There are several such systems currently on the market, but what makes TraySafe different is its approach to the replenishment process. The system utilizes a combination of photo recognition and barcode scanning to analyze tray content and notify the user of items that are missing, in the wrong location, or about to expire.

    TraySafe1
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  • Saturday morning coffee [June 6 2015]

    “Three things you cannot recover in life: the word after it’s said, the moment after it’s missed, and the time after it’s gone.” – unknown

    So much happens each and every week, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    The mug below is the sister of the one from my May 16 2015 SMC post. I picked them up from the Starbucks Roastery & Tasting Room in Seattle, Washington at the same time. I liked them both. Couldn’t leave one behind.

    MUG_RoasteryWhite
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  • Kit Check announces two patents issued by USPTO

    baby_cryingI receive press release emails for several companies. One of those companies is Kit Check. I’ve written about Kit Check several times before.

    Yesterday I received and email from Kit Check stating that “the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued two meaningful patents with two more expected on June 16, 2015. The patented innovations reach back to Kit Check’s founding and are fundamental to automating key hospital pharmacy processes”. Ok, that caught my attention. I’m always curious when patents are granted.

    The two patents issued are U.S. Patent Numbers 8,990,099 and 9,037,479. Both have to do with the management of pharmacy kits. I proceeded to the USPTO where I found the same abstract for both:

    “A system for managing pharmacy kits comprises a reading station configured to read tag information from a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags associated with a pharmacy kit, and an information processing system operatively connected to the reading station and configured to receive the tag information from the reading station and determine a status of the pharmacy kit based on the tag information, a plurality of stored templates defining contents to be included in each of a plurality of pharmacy kits, and a plurality of kit records indicating the current contents of a plurality of pharmacy kits.”

    I didn’t spend any great amount of time reading through the details of the patents because let’s face it, people who write patents do a masterful job of filling space with useless dribble. Seriously, patents make pouring a cup of coffee sound like someone has created a method for generating perpetual motion. With that said, I did do a cursory overview.

    I was surprised at the gist of what was patented. In summary, the patents were given for a system that uses RFID tags to read things inside a closed container. Obviously there’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s my understanding of the patents in a nutshell.

    I cringe when I see patents like this because it’s proof that you can patent just about anything these day. And in my opinion it stifles innovation, creativity, and ingenuity.

    Does this mean that other companies won’t be able to develop a closed system that reads multiple items with RFID tags? I certainly hope not. Only time will tell what Kit Check plans to do with these patents, but I can only guess that they didn’t spend all that time, energy, and money for the heck of it.

  • Pharmacy – entrenched in outdated dogma

    Dogma: belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted (Merriam-Webster)

    I have opinions, lots of opinions. And like most, I believe my opinions are valid; it’s human nature. It’s not uncommon for me to find people within a group that agree and disagree with my opinions. However, once in a while I come across an entire group of people that stand in disagreement with my thoughts. That’s not crazy to imagine, but when that happens I’m forced to re-evaluate. Let’s face it, if everyone thinks I’m wrong, it’s possible that I am.

    Such is the case with my thoughts on the use of technology and personnel in the i.v. room, which are on record at this site and are quite transparent. In a nutshell I believe that:
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  • Saturday morning coffee [May 23 2015]

    “I was out on a date recently and the guy took me horseback riding. That was kind of fun, until we ran out of quarters.” – Susie Loucks

    So much happens each and every week, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    MUG_SMC
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  • “Improving Safety and Efficiency in the IV Room” : thoughts on the ASHP webinar

    I previously wrote about a live webinar put on by ASHP – Improving Safety and Efficiency in the IV Room: Key Features of Automated Workflow Systems – on Wednesday, May 20 2015. The webinar was made up of three separate, 20 minute presentations:

    • Medication Error Reduction Strategy Using Dispense Preparation and Dispense Check by Tom Lausten, RPh, Director of Pharmacy at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.
    • IV Workflow Systems: Barcode Plus Volumetric Verification by Steve Speth, RPh, Pharmacy Operations Manager at IU Bloomington.
    • Automated i.v. Workflow Systems and Technologies by Caryn Bellisle, RPh, Director of Pharmacy Regulatory Compliance at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

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  • Saturday morning coffee [May 16 2015]

    “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

    So much happens each and every week, and it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    The mug below comes from the Starbucks Roastery & Tasting Room in Seattle, Washington. A friend of mine recently took me on a field trip to the roastery. Neat, neat place. It’s the kind of place I could spend an entire afternoon just kicking back, surfing the web, and drinking different coffees cup after cup. I highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area. A word of advice, don’t ask about “blond roast coffee”. Apparently they find it to be quite the abomination.

    MUG_StarbucksRoastery
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  • Upcoming ASHP Webinar: Improving Safety and Efficiency in the IV Room

    This caught my attention. ASHP is holding a live webinar – Improving Safety and Efficiency in the IV Room: Key Features of Automated Workflow Systems – on Wednesday, May 20 2015 at 2:00 PM ET.

    According to the webinar site “Technology for IV rooms can be used to streamline work processes and support staff.  However, despite the advancements in technology there are still significant challenges in the compounding of sterile products. This webinar will take a look at IV room technologies and how it has improved IV room operations and overall safety for patients.  The speakers will also review the cost benefits, the key safety components including barcode scanning, imaging and gravimetric technology, and the best practices related to implementation and maintenance of these automated processes.”

    Objectives listed include:

    • Describe the most common IV Compounding Safety technologies available in workflow programs today
    • Describe and contrast the types of errors that the workflow technologies may affect
    • List key benefits of workflow systems beyond the reduction of errors
    • List and describe key considerations when choosing an IV workflow system

    I look forward to attending as this is an area of great interest for me. I will be looking for depth of information presented in an unbiased manner. Not sure how deep they can go in an hour, but should be worthwhile nonetheless.

    You can register for the webinar here, or by following the link above.

  • I’m done with #Lenovo machines

    I’ve had a lot of laptops over the years. I started with a Compaq tablet PC back in the day. Great machine. Ground breaking design and functionality. Tried Toshiba a couple of times. Nice machines, but they always had terrible batter life. Had one really nice high-end business class HP. I liked that machine. I’ve had three Dell’s, all crap. And I’ve had three Lenovo machines: a T410s laptop, an x201t tablet PC, and my most recent purchase, a Yoga 2 Pro.

    LenovoYoga2Pro

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  • ASHP updates chemotherapy guidelines [UPDATED]

    ASHP Guidelines for Chemotherapy

    It seems as though everyone has chemotherapy on the brain. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is in the process of updating their Alert on Preventing Occupational Exposures to Antineoplastic and Other Hazardous Drugs in Health Care Settings. NIOSH already released a new list of hazardous drugs late last year. The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is busy finalizing General Chapter <800> Hazardous Drugs – Handling in Healthcare Settings. And now, ASHP has published updated chemotherapy guidelines.(1)
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