Cool Technology for Pharmacy

There’s a running joke among pharmacists that we have medication to treat just about everything. It’s kind of like Apples “There’s an app for that”, i.e. “There’s a pill for that”. Well, we’re getting closer to making that statement a reality. The SmartPill is a diagnostic device in the shape of a giant capsule. It is taken by the patient and wirelessly transmits data to the physician as it journeys through the patient’s small and large bowel.

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Get a diagnosis by coughing into your mobile phone?

Telegraph.co.uk:  “Software being developed by American and Australian scientists will hopefully allow patients simply to cough into their phone, and it will tell them whether they have cold, flu, pneumonia or other respiratory diseases. Whether a cough is dry or wet, or “productive” or “non-productive” (referring to the presence of mucus on the lungs), can … Read more

How about a self-sanitizing keyboard?

Everyone that works in a hospital knows how nasty computer keyboards can get. Well check out the Viogurad Self-Sanitizing keyboard. From the Vioguard site: The Vioguard keyboard is stored in a mechanized enclosure (which doubles as a monitor stand) when not in use. It safely floods the keyboard and track pad with germicidal ultraviolet light. … Read more

Cool Technology for Pharmacy

While not specifically related to pharmacy, this is very interesting. Stephen S. Hau, the founder of PatientKeeper in the 90’s, has created a new product called Shareable Ink. The product uses a digital pen on paper forms to capture handwriting. The information is transferred, via wireless connection, to a server where the information is digitized. The technology is not new per se, but the application to medicine in this way is.

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Sugar-Coated nanoparticles hold promise for cancer treatment

A research team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in cooperation with researchers at The Johns Hopkins University, Dartmouth College, the University of Manitoba and two biopharmaceutical companies have discovered that sugar-coated bits of iron oxide under certain circumstances can be deadly to tumors. The 100 nanometer wide sugar-coated iron oxide nanoparticles are attracted to tumor cells, where they can be heated magnetically, thus causing damage to the cells.

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Non-traditional roles for pharmacists

The increased chatter surrounding healthcare has piqued my interests in job opportunities for pharmacists outside the traditional roles, i.e. retail, hospital, IT, long-term care, etc. Physicians have been filling many of these roles for quite some time. For more information on physicians in non-traditional roles I recommend visiting Non-Clinical Medical Jobs, Careers, and Opportunities by … Read more

Cool Technology for Pharmacy

instymedsThe InstyMeds Prescription Medication Dispenser is a fully automated prescription dispensing machine. It is  designed to be used in high traffic areas where quick medication turnaround is desired and a physical pharmacy is unavailable, such as emergency departments (ED) and acute care clinics.

The dispenser has just over 100 medication slots that can each hold a medication magazine with up to 11 prepackaged medication bottles. The formulary for the InstyMeds machine is site specific and designed by the InstyMeds Corporation. Items in the example formulary that I viewed included amoxicillin capsules, amoxicillin suspension, Auralgan otic drops, Z-Pak, Augmentin, acetaminophen tablets and elixir, ibuprofen, Vicodin, Darvocet, etc. All the items you would expect from a short visit to the ED or for little Joey with an ear infection at the urgent care. The formulary in the InstyMeds machine can be altered based on seasonal trends and inventory replacement is automatically  shipped to the location when needed based on real time inventory tracking. In addition, consumables such as printer paper are also automatically tracked by the InstyMeds Corporation via an internal web cam.

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