Jerry Fahrni

Category: Pharmacy Informatics

  • Lexicomp I.V. Compatibility module available for Android

    It warms the cockles of my heart to read stuff like this. The I.V. Compatibility module for Lexicomp is now available for the Android OS. I couldn’t find any screen shots so you’ll just have to use your imagination.

    You can find more information here.

    Lexicomp’s I.V. Compatibility module is now available for your Lexicomp On-Hand subscription for Androidâ„¢! By following the update instructions below, you can add this module to your existing Lexicomp On-Hand subscription. There is no additional charge for this enhancement.

    The I.V. Compatibility module allows you to review compatibility and stability information for hundreds of parenteral medications and fluids. This module is based on information from the King® Guide to Parenteral Admixtures®. Thousands of clinicians are already using Lexicomp’s I.V. Compatibility module every day – now you can access this vital information on your Android smartphone or tablet as well.

    To update your subscription to include I.V. Compatibility, follow these instructions:
    Ensure you have a strong Wi-Fi or cellular connection.
    On your Android device, tap the Market icon and search for Lexicomp.
    Select Lexicomp and tap Update. When the warning appears, tap Accept & Download.
    When the application is installed, tap the Lexicomp icon to access your software.

  • What do pharmacists want?

    pulling_out_hairIt’s a simple question with a simple answer. In today’s pharmacy environment pharmacists want to do more “clinical” activities and distance themselves from the physical pharmacy. See, I told you it was simple.

    For the last several months I’ve been listening to people tell me what pharmacists, and pharmacies, want. I find it interesting that most of the opinions differ from mine. No big deal as opinions are opinions, remember? But today I had a brief, albeit passionate discussion over what pharmacists want. The people telling me what pharmacists wanted weren’t healthcare professionals. They were engineers, sales people, etc. I know that comes off a bit elitist, but it’s not. I don’t pretend to know what an engineer knows, so perhaps they shouldn’t pretend to know what I know. Fair? I think so.

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  • Why regulatory compliance is killing innovation in healthcare

    Anyone that’s worked in healthcare knows about regulatory compliance. If not, then they should because it takes up about 50% of everyone’s time, energy and effort. I understand the theory behind regulations, i.e. protect the patient, but I think most of the time all additional regulations do is is create work for people that are already over burdened.

    Ask a nurse how much time they spend documenting and double documenting things to meet some arbitrary rule or regulation. You’ll be surprised by the answer. Now ask a pharmacist or a physician. You’ll get the same ugly responses. I know a lot of my time as a clinician was spent generating documentation to cover my ass rather than helping care for a patient.

    Unfortunately the need to comply with government agencies and silly rules inside the walls of healthcare has generated an unwanted side effect – lack of innovation. Why? Because all that innovative energy is spent on regulatory compliance instead of other, more useful things.

    I’ve been involved in several conversations over the last month dealing with how to best use pharmacy automation and technology to increase efficiency and solve problems. Would you like to venture a guess as to what most of those conversations centered on? Yep, how to automate some documentation process or create technology to meet some new regulatory compliance. None of the discussions have been about providing better, safer, more complete patient care.

    If you don’t think this is a major problem, think again. I was reading a blog by John Halamka last night in which he discusses the ‘Burden of Compliance’. In the blog John states that “[a]s we draft new regulations that impact healthcare IT organizations, we need to keep in mind that every regulation has a cost in dollars, time, and complexity.” Just remember, there is a finite amount of dollars and time floating around in healthcare these days. If a majority of those dollars and time are gobbled up by regulatory compliance, what does that leave for innovation to actually improve medication distribution, safe administration and better patient care? Precious little if you ask me.

  • The ASHP Summer Meeting 2011 continues … (#ashpsm)

    ASHP 2011 Summer Meeting and Exhibition

    I had planned on blogging daily during the Summer Meeting, but obviously that didn’t happen. Perhaps it was the big dinner I had yesterday evening followed by the insanely good gelato that put me into a food comma, or then again maybe it was just laziness. Regardless, I skipped a day.

    The Summer Meeting continues to roll on with some great sessions and lots of interesting conversation. All-in-all between yesterday and today I’ve attended the following:

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  • And so it begins, the ASHP Summer Meeting 2011 (#ashpsm)

    As you read this the ASHP Summer Meeting is taking place in Denver, Colorado. While the ceremonial start isn’t until after the Opening Session and Keynote tomorrow (Monday, June 13) things have been in full swing since Saturday.

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  • Trolling cyberspace for relevant information

    Ours is an age of information. It comes at us from all directions; unrelenting and ever present. Finding information is no longer a problem, figuring out what to do with it and how to handle the never ending stream of information is.

    Cyberspace, i.e. the internet is full of information. It’s available via weblogs, online journals, social media, through professional organizations, via webinars and so on. The problem is that the information has no meaningful structure, making it difficult to sift through. What’s worse is trying to figure out what information is reliable and what information isn’t.

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  • West Coast fails to get single city in list of top 7 cities for IT jobs…bummer

    Healthcare IT News:

    Houston claimed the top spot to find an IT job in large part due to its position as a key hub for numerous global organizations – many of which are now rebounding from the recession and benefitting from increased IT budget.

    …

    A number of east coast cities also took top spots on the list – including Washington, D.C., which came in second, and boasts a 6 percent unemployment rate, well below the national average. Not surprisingly, most of the employment demand in the nation’s capital is being driven by the U.S. government, as it provides a variety of economic incentives for companies to start up or to relocate in the market. In addition to the government, other sectors seeking IT talent in Washington, D.C. include biotech, associations, telecom, financial services, technology, IT startups/dot-coms, construction and hospitality.

    The full list of top cities to find a job in IT are:
    1. Houston
    2. Washington, DC
    3. Columbus, OH
    4. Detroit
    5. Philadelphia
    6. Edison, NJ
    7. Boston

    Why do you suppose the West Coast is so far out of the loop?

  • Pharmacy Director needed…programming experience required?

    As I alluded to in a recent post, I still get a fair number of emails and phone calls from pharmacy recruiters; actually got one of each today.

    The following recruiter email arrived in my inbox a few days ago. I found a few things very interesting. Feel free to read the entire job description, but pay particular attention to the highlighter sections.
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  • Do larger hospitals have an edge? Maybe

    I’ve worked in several hospitals over the course of my career, ranging in size from 25 acute care beds to nearly 600 (584 beds to be exact). While 600 beds isn’t a large hospital, it certainly isn’t small. Regardless of the size of the hospital I’ve worked in, the operations inside the walls of the pharmacy are strikingly similar, including from the way pharmacists process orders to the way technicians handle distribution. There are differences to be sure, but the basics are the same. Differences to note include clinical services and use of automation and technology.
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  • The ever expanding role of pharmacists

    Lately I’ve found myself thinking about how pharmacists are involved in healthcare. Despite popular belief pharmacists do more than simply work in the pharmacy.

    Throughout my career I’ve become accustomed to people viewing pharmacists as the stereotypically person behind the counter at the drug store “counting pills”. While that’s not all pharmacists do, I’ve learned to live with the general publics simplistic view. I don’t think most people realize that pharmacists are involved in every aspect of a patient’s care. If you’ve ever been in a hospital, received a prescription medication, had a loved one in a long term care facility, received intravenous medications at home like total parenteral nutrition (TPN) or antibiotics, received an albumin or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) infusion in an outpatient infusion center or met with a pharmacist in a clinic setting for a medication therapy management (MTM) session, then you’ve been touched by a pharmacist.
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