Jerry Fahrni

Category: Cool Technology

  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – RxVerify

    While reading through a pharmacy listserv I came across a seemingly simple piece of software that fills an important gap in the pharmacy distribution process. RxVerify, by Pharmacy Ideas, is a bar-code verification system used during the medication restocking phase for code boxes, anesthesia trays, transport boxes, etc.
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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – LXE Bluetooth Ring Scanner

    A recent conversation with Carla Corkern, CEO of Talyst, resulted in this week’s Cool Technology for Pharmacy.

    The LXE 8650 Bluetooth Ring Scanner is a pretty neat, albeit homely, piece of hardware. The device is designed with wearability in mind to provide the end-user with hands-free operation.

    The LXE 8650 consists of a ring scanner and a Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth module is attached to the wrist via a velcro strap and the ring scanner fits on the finger and is operated by a thumb trigger. The system is lightweight coming in at only 4.8 ounces (136 grams), and that includes the ring scanner, Bluetooth module, battery and wrist strap. The scanner is designed with a magnesium alloy housing so it can take a beating, something that is a necessity in the pharmacy. In addition to the magnesium housing the system is sealed to IP54 standards1 and can withstand multiple drops from up to 4 feet to concrete. Battery life appears to be pretty good and can deliver up to 17,000 scans on a single charge. I don’t know about your pharmacy, but that equates to more than 24 hours of continuous use before a charge is necessary.
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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – QR Codes

    Last night I was reading through some tweets and ran across this one from @ahier. Of course this led me to the referenced article on Microsoft Tags. It was a very interesting article, but for reasons I can’t explain I started thinking about a conversation I had with some people at the unSUMMIT regarding the use of QR Codes. And like all people with a short attention span I fired up Google and started searching for information on QR Codes. Fascinating stuff.
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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – CHS 7X

    Bar-Code Point-Of-Care (BPOC), also known as Bar-Code Medication Administration (BCMA) has been a hot topic in health care for a while now. Some people love it while others hate it. Regardless of how you feel about bar-coding it is here to stay for a while and the technology, both hardware and software, is pretty cool.
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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – BoxPicker

    Cool Technology for Pharmacy – BoxPicker

    The Swisslog BoxPicker is an automated alternative to carousel technology for drug storage and retrieval. Unlike the open shelf architecture of automated carousel storage the BoxPicker offers access to medications via a single-opening/loading drawer process.

    Once you get past the name, the technology is impressive. The most interesting thing about the Swisslog BoxPicker however, is that it is available in dual-temperature and refrigerated models. The “dual-temperature ™ option for BoxPicker allows automated storage and picking of temperature-sensitive drugs requiring refrigeration and room temperature storage within one automated compact unit.” And the “BoxPicker refrigerated option eliminates the need for pharmacy refrigerators and increases security with automated storage and dispensing of refrigerated medications.”

    In addition, the BoxPicker is clean room compatible with positive pressure. The pass-through capability is a very nice feature for an automated storage unit featuring refrigeration. It prevents staff from moving in and out of the clean room environment to retrieve equipment or medications necessary for compounding.
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  • Rxplore: a new way to explore medication side effects visually

    Journal of Biomedical Informatics

    Abstract:
    Patients on multiple medications are at increased risk for adverse drug events. While physicians can reduce this risk by regularly reviewing the side-effect profiles of their patients’ medications, this process can be time-consuming. We created a decision support system designed to expedite reviewing potential adverse reactions through information visualization. The system includes a database containing 16,340 unique drug and side-effect pairs, representing 250 common medications. A numeric score is assigned to each pair reflecting the strength of association between drug and effect. Based on these scores, the system generates graphical adverse reaction maps for any user-selected combination of drugs. A study comparing speed and accuracy of retrieving side-effect data using this tool versus UpToDate demonstrated a 60% reduction in time to complete a query (61 s vs. 155 s, p < 0.0001) with no decrease in accuracy. These findings suggest that information visualization can significantly expedite review of potential adverse drug events. – J Biomed Inform. 2010 Apr;43(2):326-3

    The visual support tool mentioned in the abstract above is called Rxplore and was developed by Jon D. Duke, M.D., a medical informatics fellow at the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine.
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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy – eDoc Telemedicine System

    Cool Technology for Pharmacy – eDoc Telemedicine System

    Telemedicine is one of those technologies that is either going to be unbelievably useful or a complete waste of time. Only time will tell. Recent articles like the one in Archives of Internal Medicine suggest that it may have a place in healthcare. Pharmacists may find telemedicine a useful tool for communicating with patients or physicians over great distances. I can see value in that.

    While not specifically designed for pharmacy, the eDoc Telemedicine/EHR System is a cool piece of technology. For information to be useful it needs to be collected and made available at the point of care, which is exactly what this system does.

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  • Monday morning musings

    For some, weekends are a good time to sit around and relax. I tend to do that in the early morning hours of the weekends because the house is quiet and it doesn’t take away from any of the activities that happen during the “normal hours”. It gives me time to catch up on things that I like to do; surf the net and read articles.
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  • One pharmacist’s opinion: iPhone vs. DROID

    I’ve been carrying a Motorola DROID since Verizon made it available back in November 2009. I’ve enjoyed many of its features and consider it a great mobile device. Recently I came into possession of an iPhone. I’ve wanted an iPhone for quite some time, but have been quite outspoken about not switching to AT&T because of poor coverage in our area; Central Valley of California.

    Having both devices in my possession has given me the perfect opportunity to test them head-to-head to see which setup I prefer. My original plan was to carry the iPhone exclusively for a month or so to see if I could completely replace my DROID. Unfortunately number forwarding only works with calls. Text messages would continue going to my DROID which would create a problem for me as I receive text messages several fold more than I do direct calls. So I have been carrying both devices for the past few weeks.
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  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy

    While this item isn’t specifically designed for pharmacy, it is one cool piece of hardware; the POS-X PC117. The all-in-one workstation is on the list of hardware I received from Talyst as part of a new system that Kaweah Delta will be beta testing in the coming months. So, I wandered over to the Talyst customer portal where I found some additional information. I’m not positive, but it looks like this is the new workstation that the company will be using on their AutoPharm installations.

    The POS-X workstation is a big improvement over the traditional use of a monitor and standard PC tower. It’s not exactly petite, weighing in at 24 pounds, but it’s still a real space saver.
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