Jerry Fahrni

Category: Cool Technology

  • Cool Pharmacy Technology – Kiro Oncology System

    I’ve recently had conversations with several companies outside the U.S. developing robotic technology for the i.v. room. One of those systems is the Kiro Oncology System. Check the video below.

    A couple of things worth noting:

    • The system uses dual robotic arms during the compounding process. This is something that is important for the next generation of i.v. room robots. The current crop of i.v. room robots here in the U.S. use a single arm. Think about the inefficiency of one-armed sterile compounding.
    • The Kiro Oncology System is self-cleaning. This is a concept that appears to be more popular “in Europe” than it is here in the U.S. Kiro Oncology isn’t the first overseas group I’ve dealt with that is pushing the idea of self-cleaning. None of the U.S. vendors have ever mentioned it.

  • Cool Pharmacy Technology – Intelliguard RFID Solutions from MEPS Real-Time

    Last week I spent some time down south in San Diego visiting a couple of hospitals and speaking with the good folks at MEPS Real-Time. My objective for the visit was twofold: 1) see MEPS RFID Solutions in a live environment, and 2) speak with the people at MEPS and get an inside look at their technology. I was able to accomplish both goals.

    MEPS Real-Time is a company that specializes in providing RFID solutions for healthcare specifically targeted at acute care pharmacies. Their Intelliguard® RFID Solutions product line currently includes a Kit and Tray Management System, Controlled Temperature Cabinets, and a Vendor Management Inventory (VMI) System.

    MEPS_RFID_TAG
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  • Cool Pharmacy Technology – Intelliport Medication System

    I briefly mentioned the Intelliport Medication System from BD in a previous post. The technology and potential use cases are impressive.

    The BD Intelliport System offers:

    • Drug and concentration information is presented to the user via audio and visual feedback. The system pulls information from the bar code on the syringe as it’s inserted into the Intelliport injection port.
    • Drug identification, dose measurement and drug allergy alerts in real-time. The allergy information is pulled directly from the patient’s EHR record.
    • Automated documentation of medication delivery. The system wirelessly captures drug, dose, time, and route of administration. The information is fed directly back into the EHR

    Check the video below, it’s really cool.

  • Cool Pharmacy Technology – Eyecon Visual Counting System

    It’s hard to imagine that pharmacies still manually count medications and pour them into bottle for distribution to patients, but it goes on all the time. Even large pharmacies that have robotic dispensing systems still have to manually dispense a fair number of medications for one reason or another.

    Eyecon by RxMedic is an automated counting system for oral medications that uses barcode scanning technology and “machine vision” to ensure accurate medication dispensing.

    Some things that I thought were interesting about Eyecon:

    • It uses barcode scanning technology to ensure that the correct medication is being used, i.e. Eyecon scans the medication barcode against the prescription label. When used properly this a good way to prevent putting the wrong drug in the patient’s bottle.
    • Use of “machine vision” to perform counting. I’m not entirely sure what “machine vision” technology is, but I hear the term often enough; especially when looking at compounding robots. According to the company, Eyecon can “detect pill fragments or foreign matter in the counting platter and alert the operator”. That’s a nice feature.
    • There are separate trays for “sulfa” and “penicillin”. You frequently see tray segregation like this in outpatient pharmacies due to fear of cross contamination and patient allergies. This little feature tells me that the person that designed Eyecon has practical experience in a pharmacy.

    Couple of Eyecon videos below. The first shows a general overview of Eyecon from 2010. The second shows Eyecon being used to fill a prescription using barcode scanning technology. There are several videos posted on YouTube. Just search for “Eyecon”.
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  • Cool Technology for Healthcare – GPS SmartSole

    Yep, you read the right, GPS-enabled insoles for your shoes. Very interesting concept when you stop to consider the potential benefits of such technology in healthcare, i.e. think Alzheimer’s for one, although the use cases are expansive.

    Up until a couple of weeks ago I had never heard of the GPS SmartSole, but apparently they’ve been around for a while. According to the company website – GTX Corp – the product has been around since 2008. Who knew?

    The technology gives users the ability to track individual’s location via any smartphone, tablet, or other web-enabled device. Caregivers can even configure the system to send text and email alerts when the user leaves a designated area. Of course it only works if the user is wearing their shoes.

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  • Cool Pharmacy Technology – TelePharm

    Telepresence has seen its ups and downs over the years. The technology is certainly nothing new, but it has been underutilized in both the inpatient and outpatient healthcare space. This is especially true when it comes to pharmacy, which is odd because one would think that telepresence technology could be used to give pharmacists the freedom they crave.

    TelePharm is a telepresence system aimed at the ambulatory pharmacy space. It’s difficult to elicit much detail from the website, but ultimately the system appears to use cameras and a web-based application to remotely monitor technicians, and provide patient consultations via video conference.

    “Pharmacists are provided captured images of all work products (hardcopy prescriptions, labeled containers, medications (tablets/capsules), stock bottle containers, and stock bottle. They compare all this information to the system information and stock images provided to verify the prescription has been filled properly.”

    It appears that patient consultations can take place on any web-enabled device. “A pharmacist needs an audio/video enabled device with internet to access the TelePharm application. Patients need to have an internet and audio/video connection through a tablet, mobile phone, or home PC.”

    The TelePharm service reminds me of what Envision Telepharmacy does with acute care pharmacies and infusion centers.

    Anyone out there used TelePharm or seen it in person? If so feel free to leave a comment below.

  • SCiO – a molecular scanner for your pocket

    medGadget: “A new device launching on Kickstarter today aims to simplify the process by utilizing spectrometry to analyze and provide real-time information on any food that you aim it at. Dubbed SCiO, this molecular scanner from Tel Aviv-based company Consumer Physics takes spectrometry technology found commonly in laboratories and industrial environments and places it in a consumer device not much larger than a common USB drive….. SCiO can also scan medication. During a live demonstration we attended last week, Consumer Physics’ co-founder Dror Sharon scanned two brands of ibuprofen, and SCiO was able to identify which pill was a generic brand.”
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  • Cool Pharmacy Technology – Verification by MedKeeper

    I had an opportunity to spend some time at MedKeeper headquarters in Westminster, CO last week. I’ve worked with MedKeeper before, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to visit the facility and meet their team.

    MedKeeper is a company that makes several products for acute care pharmacy, specifically they develop software targeted at pharmacy operations. Some of you may know them for their medication tracking system, MedBoard.
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  • Real-time medication tracking: Pharmtrac.PD by PlusDelta Technologies

    I’ve been revisiting some of the pharmacy technology that I’ve covered over the past few years. Partly to see what advances have been made, if any, and partly to see if some of the smaller guys I’ve come across are still in business.

    PlusDelta Technologies is an interesting little company that I discovered at the ASHP Summer Meeting in Denver in 2011. I was impressed with their vision, and with their use of mobile technology to track medications throughout the distribution process. At the time the company had a small suite of products, but as I sit here looking at their website it appears that they’ve whittled it down to just one: Pharmtrac.PD. Focus people, that’s called focus.
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  • Smart prescription bottle to be used in clinical trial for med compliance

    adheretech

    Medical Xpress:

    “Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, a Cornell University college, has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the New York City Economic Development Corp. and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration for a clinical study to test the effectiveness of the smart pill bottle on drug adherence in HIV-positive patients. It was one of 10 partnerships to win an inaugural PILOT Health Tech NYC grant.

    The smart bottle is made by AdhereTech, a startup firm that licensed the technology from UAH (University of Alabama in Huntsville), which holds an equity position in the company.

    For 12 weeks, the New York trial is scheduled to follow 70 HIV patients with medication compliance difficulties who are being treated at Weill Cornell. Each patient will receive adherence counseling, but only half will also use the smart pill bottles.”

    I first mentioned the AdhereTech bottle back in March of this year. Then I mentioned it again during a presentation that I gave in May at the HIMSS Southern California Chapter 5th Annual Clinical Informatics Summit: Adventures in Clinical Informatics. It’s an interesting piece of technology. I’m curious to see what the outcome of the study shows.