Jerry Fahrni

Blog

  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy

    In a previous post I mused about using an automated packaging system like InSite from Talyst as a type of automated dispensing cabinet for acute care patients. InSite was designed for long-term care and would simply be too large for the needs of an acute care nursing unit, but the technology is ideal.

    However, the ATP-71 (PDF) from Swisslog is a bulk packager that can hold up to 71 canisters in a relatively small footprint: 31.5 inches wide x 29.6 inches deep x 30.6 inches high. For comparison, a Pyxis MedStation 4000 2-drawer main unit is 22.8 inches wide x 26.7 inches deep x 27.7 inches high. I would say that makes the two units comparable in terms of size, and I can tell you from personal experience that a 2-drawer main isn’t very big up close.
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  • Facial recognition via your Android smartphone

    VentureBeat: “Recognizr uses FaceLib, a mobile face recognition library from Polar Rose, which is available for Android and iPhone. FaceLib can recognize faces in photo or video but, in common with other facial recognition products, is more accurate for photos. Recognizr also uses Polar Rose’s server-side solution FaceCloud because you can’t store profiles of all potential matches in the phone — although recognizing people who are already in the phone’s address book can be handled locally on the device.” – The application from Polar Rose combined with the interface from TAT (The Astonishing Tribe) pulls up information associated with the recognized faze from places like Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

    Wouldn’t this be a great application to use in healthcare? Imagine a patient rolls in through the emergency department; can’t answer your questions because of a language barrier, is unconcious, is too young or simply can’t speak secondary to injuries. The physician grabs his/her smartphone and uses it to “recognize” the patient and pull up their medical records. Now that’s some cool technology!

  • What we need is a system-neutral data structure for healthcare

    During a web browsing session the other day I came across a very interesting blog post by Louis Gray titled “The Future: Operating System And Application-Neutral Data”. I enjoy reading Louis’ posts because I think he has a great vision for the future of personal computing, data, and “the cloud”

    The blog speaks specifically to the ownership of personal data versus allowing companies to sit on it and possibly hold it hostage secondary to a lack of compatibility with other systems. The information you throw onto the internet defines who and what you are, more now than ever before, and you need to be able to move it around anytime from anywhere.
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  • Notion Ink’s slate tablet shouldn’t be ignored

    The Notion Ink Adam tablet was a popular item for bloggers during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year. The device runs the Android operating system and offers some very interesting technology for the end user like a touchpad on the back of the device and a 10.1” 1024×600 Pixel Qi display.

    The Pixel Qi screen offers the quick refresh of an LCD screen with the low power consumption and direct sunlight readability of e-ink. I’m excited about the Pixel Qi technology and have been waiting for their screens to appear in consumer devices for quite some time. In fact, I’m holding off my purchase of a Kindle DX until I see a Pixel Qi screen for myself. I’m just not a fan of reading PDF files on a backlit LCD display, and reading them on a Nook or Kindle isn’t a great experience either.

    The addition of the touchpad on the back of the Adam tablet is interesting. It gives the user the ability to move around the screen while holding the device in its natural slate configuration. It may take some getting used to, but overall the rear touchpad is a novel concept that I think offers value. Other nice features include a camera, the ability to multi-task and an SD card slot.

    The Adam could rival the iPad if given a fair comparison. The one major downside to the Notion tablet will be the same disadvantage I’m finding with my DROID; a lack of software available for healthcare. Then again, if your software is delivered over the web and accessed via the device browser it won’t make any difference.

    Some great photos of the Notion Ink’s Adam tablet can be found at Flickr.

  • Talyst goes live with new customer portal

    Talyst has been beta-testing a new customer portal for several months now. The idea was introduced to Talyst customers at their user group meeting during the ASHP Summer Meeting in Chicago last June. Beta-testing took place between the summer meeting and December 2009 when Talyst unveiled the portal to a larger user group meeting in Las Vegas at the ASHP Midyear. Attendees were given a demonstration of the portal and offered an opportunity to provide feedback on possible issues or features they’d like to see. Well, it appears that the portal is out of the beta phase and ready for use.


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  • Quick hit: Don’t over-specialize within HIT

    During the implementation phase of an important project you never want to hear someone say “oh, <insert name here> is the only one that can do that and they’re gone until Monday.” Doh!

    Just a friendly piece of advice: no company larger than one employee should have individuals that are so specialized that no one else can do their job in a pinch. People, especially in the healthcare information technology (HIT) field, should be crossed trained appropriately so that things like this don’t happen. Not everyone will be as good as the person that “owns” the process, but it’s better than getting caught with your pants down around your ankles. Understand my meaning? I’m just sayin’.

  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy

    IV Automation / Robotics

    Today I attended a webinar from Baxa titled “Improving Sterile Compounding Quality Through Automation” given by Eric Kastango RPh, MBA, FASHP. The presentation was very interesting. I thought it was going to focus more on technology, but it was heavy on the human component of contamination in the clean room environment with only minor mention of automated IV devices. Anyway, during the presentation Kastago talked a bit about robotic automation for clean rooms and mentioned the CytoCare Robot.

    The CytoCare Robot is a chemotherapy compounding robot in an ISO class 5 environment. According to the website CytoCare is “the world’s first and only automated robotic system for the safe compounding of hazardous, life-critical cancer therapy medications.”


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  • Epocrates beta for webOS

    It looks like Epocrates beta is available for the Palm webOS platform. Check out the video below to get the gist for the look and feel of the app.

    I don’t use Epocrates myself. My mobile drug information resources of choice come from Lexi-Comp. However, Epocrates is a very popular and highly respected resource among healthcare professionals.

    Unfortunately Palm and the webOS don’t appear to have a good long-term prognosis in the smartphone arena. I’ve been reading various reports that Palm may be on its way out secondary to the iPhone, BlackBerry and newer android devices. That’s really too bad. I’ve been a big fan of the Palm operating system since its inception back in the 1990’s. In fact, I would be using a Palm Pre today if it would have been available through Verizon when I purchased my DROID.

    I’d love to talk with someone at Palm about building an 8-10” slate tablet device running webOS. The simplicity of the operating system and the ability to really have multiple applications open at once is very appealing. Consider that you can also run legacy Palm OS software on webOS-based devices via emulator software like Classic from Motionapps, and you really have something to like. I fear that this is only a dream, however, as I haven’t heard a peep about anything from Palm even remotely resembling a tablet device.

    So, Palm, if you ever feel the need to build a tablet device please give me a call. I have some ideas for you.

  • Lenovo has been busy

    Tablet PC
    CNet    : “Lenovo updated its x series tablet with a new x201 model that packs Intel’s newest low-power Core i5 and i7 processors. In addition to the performance improvement that comes with the faster Core i series chips, the x201 also boasts better battery life over previous models, according to Mika Majapuro, senior worldwide product marketing manager at Lenovo.” – Lenovo currently makes one of the premiere tablet PCs on the market; the ThinkPad X200. I’m thrilled that they are continuing their great tradition of convertible tablets despite the popularity of slate devices so far this year; the iPad, the windows based HP Slate and the Notion Ink Adam, an android based tablet device. According to the article Lenovo continues to make convertible tablets secondary to feedback from customers. Hey, I think the convertible tablet is the way to go.

    Dual Screen laptop
    The same CNet article mentions that “Lenovo also announced 17-inch ThinkPad models, including the W701 and W701ds (dual screen) ThinkPad. These also come with new Intel Core i series processors.” – My opinions regarding dual screen laptops can be found here. Overall I like the concept and think they’re pretty cool now that I’ve had some time to get used to the idea. I will definitely give one a try if and when I can.

  • Time for a new model of data storage and software distribution in pharmacy

    There was a time when I thought all a pharmacist needed to do his job was a pen and a calculator. It was just so cumbersome to carry anything else. If you wanted to have mobile drug information it meant carrying a drug reference book with you everywhere. Who can forget being in pharmacy school where every self respecting pharmacy student had a Drug Information Handbook stuffed in their lab coat pocket along with all the other stuff they carried like a homemade peripheral brain scribbled on the pages of a notebook or on those neat little 3×5 cards.
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