Jerry Fahrni

Tag: Cool Stuff

  • Cool Pharmacy Tech – Phocus Rx

    Ever heard of Phocus Rx? Neither had I until a couple of days ago when my boss sent me a link to this story about Children’s Hospital Los Angeles receiving Phocus Rx as a charitable donation.

    Phocus Rx is camera system used in pharmacy clean rooms to document and validate the IV compounding process. It consists of two compact 5 megapixel cameras mounted outside the hood in the clean room ceiling or on articulated arm and workflow management software. That’s quite a departure from the other systems I’ve seen where the camera sits in the hood. In addition Phocus Rx includes the obligatory image capture that allows pharmacists to remotely review the compounding process. Pretty cool stuff.

    By my count we now have four of these systems on the market, including PHOCUS Rx. Getting pretty crowded in there. Although I have to say that DoseEdge is far and away the most talked about of the IV workflow management systems on the market today. I’d love to play with them side by side to compare features and functionality.

    The other systems that I’m aware of include:

    From the PHOCUS Rx website:

    PHOCUS Rx is a powerful camera verification system combining hardware and software. It enables pharmacists and technicians to remotely document and validate the preparation of IV drugs. Two ultra compact 5 megapixel cameras are located outside the hood in the clean room ceiling or on articulated arm. Bi-directional communication software enables pharmacists to review high resolution images and validate or send a warning message.

    FEATURES

    • scalable and modular system
    • non invasive – no wires or devices in hood
    • server located outside compounding area
    • validate and store images
    • barcode recognition
    • based on client/server structure
    • simple workflow screens
    • historical and activity reports

  • Medscape application now available for the Kindle Fire

    I’m sure by now everyone has heard of the Kindle Fire. If not just know that it is the 7-inch color media device from Amazon based on the Android operating system. The device has been uber popular to this point. It’s difficult to tell how popular exactly, but one thing is for sure, you know a device has gained some ground by the applications that get developed for it.
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  • Cool Pharmacy Tech – T-Haler

    The T-Haler is a training device developed by Cambridge Consultants to help asthma patients learn how to use their inhalers. Why is this such a cool piece of technology? Because patients invariably do a crapy job using their inhalers.

    I used to ask asthma patients to demonstrate how they used their inhalers, and I was almost always disappointed by what I saw. Most patients don’t understand how to properly use these simple little devices, which ultimately leads to treatment problems, and in worst case scenarios poor control of their asthma.  This is especially true in pediatric patients. Asthma education was a big part of the pharmacist’s job when I worked in a pediatric hospital.

    From the Cambridge Consultants site:

    Cambridge Consultants developed the T-Haler concept, a simple training device. Interactive software, linked to a wireless training inhaler, monitors how a patient uses their device and provides real-time feedback via an interactive video ‘game’. T-Haler provides visual feedback to the user on their performance and the areas that need improvement. These tools could help the estimated 235 million asthma sufferers worldwide to get the most from their inhaler, and potentially reduce the millions spent annually on asthma-related emergency room admissions.

    More than 50 healthy participants, aged 18-60, took part in a recent study conducted by Cambridge Consultants to test the efficacy of T-Haler. Before using the training system, the average success rate of the group in using an inhaler correctly was in the low 20% range – in line with numerous other studies carried out. The participants had no prior experience with asthma or inhalers and were given no human instruction beyond being handed the T-Haler and told to begin. The on-screen interface walked the group through the process, which takes just three minutes to complete.

    The T-Haler measures three key factors for proper inhaler use. First, whether the patient has shaken the inhaler prior to breathing in; second, the force with which they breathed in; third, when they pressed down on the canister (the step which releases the drug). These three variables can determine the efficacy with which drugs are delivered in a real metered dose inhaler (MDI) device.

    As healthcare trends toward a focus on preventive care and devices which offer greater consumer appeal and compliance, innovations such as the T-Haler may soon become the norm in doctors’ offices, pharmacies and clinics.

  • RFID technology to monitor football players to prevent overheating on the field

    This is simply cool. There’s no other way to put it.

    Barcode.com: “On the football field, for example, heat prostration has led to several fatalities over the past few years. The problem starts during pre-season practices that take place under the intense summer sun. Identec has already developed a headband with an embedded heat-sensing chip. The RFID chips embedded in helmets developed by HotHead Technologies, combine RFID with a heat-sensing thermistor, offering plenty of range.”

    From the hotheads technology website:

    The H.O.T. System is a patent-pending, two-component package that embeds a heat sensing unit inside the helmet of an individual and collects and relays periodic temperature readings from that person’s skin to a portable data collector (A ruggedized PDA or Laptop Computer). The portable device is used to alert the individual or an observer that the person has exceeded an allowable temperature while the subject’s helmet is on.

    If skin temperature ranges outside of the set parameters then the data collector will alert the sensor unit in the helmet to take temperature readings at a faster rate. The alert will be displayed on the data collector so the operator of the data collector can make a decision on whether to stop the current activity and seek to receive further observation from a professional and take measures to cool their temperature down. The alert will be automatically removed from the data collector as soon as the skin temperature falls back into the normal parameters.

    There’s also a short video that shows the basic idea here.

  • Shareable Ink plus EHR equals interesting alternative

    EMR Daily News: “Shareable Ink®, an enterprise cloud computing company that transforms paper documentation to structured data, today announced three new partnerships with leading EHR vendors that will further the company’s reach in delivering a reliable, portable and easy to implement electronic data capture solution that works with existing physician workflows. The agreements with Greenway Medical Technologies, Inc., NextEMR, VoiceHIT, and an existing partnership with Allscripts, signal the demand within the physician practice marketplace for a flexible technology that can be used in any care setting to help compliance with Meaningful Use (MU) requirements.”

    I think highly of Shareable Ink. I like the concept and think it provides a nice bridge between where we are today and where we need to be. I first mentioned Shareable Ink back in November 2009. It was a good idea then, and it’s a good idea now.

  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of February February 12, 2011

    I haven’t done one of these in quite a while, but thought I’d try to get back in the groove.

    It’s been a pretty good week, and as usual there were a lot of things that happened during that time. Not all of it was pharmacy or technology related. Here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I found interesting.

    • The Vow was #1 at the box office last weekend. I haven’t seen it. Instead my wife and I went to see Safe House, which was pretty good. It’s no threat to the Bourne series, but I’d see it again. 
    • I thought this was pretty sticking funny. From Robot Chicken. Pay attention at 0:06 in the video. Quite the conundrum.

     

    • HIIMSS12 is next week in Las Vegas. This is the first year I’ve been able to attend and I’m excited. This is the most excited I’ve been about attending a conference in a long, long time. I can’t wait to get there. I’m looking forward to meeting some folks that I’ve only talked to virtually. In addition I’ll be attending my first ever HIMSS 2012 Tweetup with HP on Tuesday, February 21. Details can be found here. Cool stuff, dude.
    • It looks like infant Tylenol oral suspension is on the hook again. More than 500,000 bottles have been recalled. It has to do with the flow restrictor. You can read more about it the ASHP News Site. Infant Tylenol suspension has taken a beating over the years. It begs two questions: 1) why can’t people get this right?, and 2) what do we do in the long run if people can never figure it out? Check the video below for instructions on using Infants Tylenol suspension. It’s not that hard people!
    • How far have we really come with smartphone technology? Actually we’ve come a long way, but have you ever gone back and looked at handheld technology over the years? If you have, you’ll know that it’s basically the same. Take a look at this user guide for one of the Sony Clie PDAs (PEG-NZ90). Yes, yes, it’s quite ugly, but look at the manual and evaluate what it can do. Crud, throw in a faster processor, a little more memory and a 4G antenna and I’d use it. The PEG-NZ90 was introduced by Sony in 2003.
    • imageI don’t pay much attention to retail pharmacy, but have you ever seen the ClearRx bottle and labeling system from Target? Brilliant, simply brilliant. Pharmacy bottles have been the same basic design for a long, long time. I applaud Target for doing something different. I still don’t like retail pharmacy, but I think their bottle design is cool.
    • I started using the Cloudring service. I use a lot of cloud-based storage solutions and Cloudring helps me keep certain files synched up between them. It also allows me to easily see all my cloud storage solutions at the same time and move files back and forth. So far I’ve experimented with Dropbox, Google Docs, Box and Evernote. It’s very cool.
    • The Barcode News: “Imagine, instead of a cashier having to handle every item in your cart, or you having to play spin the bottle with your ketchup at the self-checkout, you simply place your items on a conveyor belt where they are automatically scanned by the time they get to the bagging station. This is possible with 360 scanners. As the name denotes, 360 scanners are capable of scanning a product bar code from 360 degrees.” – Yeah, now instead of thinking of these things in grocery stores, think of using them in healthcare so people don’t have to actively scan things.
    • EHR Bloggers: “As part of the treatment plan for a patient who has a critical need to take one or more pills at or very near specified times throughout the day a physician, nurse or perhaps a new kind of specialist will develop a tracking plan.” – Stalker anyone? Just sayin’.
    • I read a lot of articles at the sciencebase website. They make reading about science fun and interesting. Even though it’s not from this week, I love the blurb they did on the shape of snowflakes. “Snowflakes have at their heart a minute grain of dust that was once floating in a cloud, this speck of dust is the nucleation centre around which water vapour from the atmosphere can condense and if it is cold enough crystallise as ice. As with any crystallisation process it follows a symmetry intrinsic to the atoms or molecules from which the crystal is formed. In the case of water, the underlying symmetry is hexagonal symmetry.” Be sure to watch the video on the site that shows some great snowflake images. Beautiful stuff.
    • How much work goes into movie poster design? Too much. Fast Company has an interesting article on The Psychology Behind Movie Poster Designs. It’s interesting to note that I never see a movie based on the poster design. Do you? I typically watch a movie based on whether or not I think it will entertain me. I don’t see a movie for artistic value, or views on “reality”, or political statements, etc. I go to be entertained. I go to escape reality for a couple of hours.
    • Snowboarding at night wearing an LED suite. Quite beautiful.

     

    • AJHP March 1, 2012 vol. 69 no. 5 405-421 “ Projecting future drug expenditures – 2012”: “For 2012, we project a 3–5% increase in total drug expenditures across all settings, a 5–7% increase in expenditures for clinic-administered drugs, and a 0–2% increase in hospital drug expenditures.” – Why is this important? Because acute care pharmacy budgets can run over $100 Million a year, that’s why.
    • Scientists have conducted the first successful human test with a drug delivery chip. The article appeared in Science Translational Medicine where the authors describes the successful use of a programmable chip loaded with medication and injected into a person. The chip holds several doses of the drug in place until an electrical current is applied, then the drug is released in the quantity specified. I worked on something like this when I was an undergraduate studying chemistry. Of course it was only in a beaker and not using drugs, but I used polyaniline to carry specific molecular entities and release them when current was applied. In our case, it was all or none, but it was cool. I still have my lab books from the experiments. 
    • Picked up a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 this week. I love the screen on this thing. Yeah, it’s big, but it’s beautiful. I already synched it with my Google account, which means I instantly had access to all my documents, my music, and of course my email. I also took some time to watch a little Netflix on it and listen to some music via it’s build in FM radio. I plan to take it with me to HIMSS12 along with all my other tech “stuff”. Deciding which of my toys to take on trips is becoming more difficult by the day. 

    That’s it folks. I think I’ll keep it short and sweet this week. Enjoy your weekend everyone, and remember “one of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important” (Bertrand Russell).

  • Pharmaceuticals from crab shells

    This is pretty cool stuff.

    Vienna University of Technology: “Fungi with additional foreign genes have been created at the Vienna University of Technology. They can now turn chitin into pharmaceuticals.

    Usually, mould fungi are nothing to cheer about – but now they can be used as “chemical factories”. Scientists at the Vienna University of Technology have succeeded in introducing bacterial genes into the fungus Trichoderma, so that the fungus can now produce important chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. The raw material used by the fungus is abundant – it is chitin, which makes up the shells of crustaceans."

    N-Acetylneuraminic acid (sialic acid or Neu5Ac) is a naturally widespread carbohydrate with several biological functions, including blood protein half-life regulation, variety of toxin neutralization, cellular adhesion and glycoprotein lytic protection. Neu5Ac is also the starting reagent of biochemical derivatives for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, including antivirals. Basically it’s pretty important, but it’s also very expensive, running about $2600 per gram.

    Fortunately the team at Vienna UT uses a genetically altered form of the fungus Trichoderma to help create Neu5Ac from Chitin, which is readily and abundantly available, thus making it a much more cost effective pharmaceutical substrate. Ta-da!

  • Look at the Transformer Prime with keyboard dock

    Nice little review of the Transformer Prime (TFP) hardware at GigaOM. Make sure to check the game play at around 7:55 in the video. The reviewer plugs an Xbox 360 controller into the USB slot on the keyboard dock and uses it to play Shadow Run. How cool is that. 

    I really think the hybrid design of the TFP is ideal for many situations, especially for those people that truly want to carry a single device. As much as I like tablets I find that I still need a keyboard for any significant data entry chores, whether it be with a spreadsheet, word processor, etc.

    I would really like to see tablet PC manufacturers like Lenovo and Samsung do something similar, i.e. a keyboard dock that increases battery life and folds into a laptop style portfolio with the tablet docked. My dream machine would be a Samsung Series 7 Slate with a laptop dock similar to the TFP. It doesn’t appear that Samsung is interested in such a docking solution, but I’m hopeful that a third party will take the hint and do it anyway.

  • Yo, wouldn’t a high-tech laminar air flow hood be cool

    We have so much technology around these days. I mean we have real-time patient monitoring, near field communication, telemedicine, smartphones, music and video in the cloud, and so on ad infinitum. So why is it that hospital pharmacies use the same old horizontal hoods that they’ve always used?

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  • Contact lenses loaded with anesthetic medication

    When I think of technological advances these are the things that come to mind.

    medGadget “…researchers at University of Florida are reporting that they developed a way to load topical anesthetics into contact lenses to provide extended delivery of pain relief in a uniform fashion.  And since many of the patients that undergo eye procedures have been wearing contacts prior, they’re already used to putting them on. From the study abstract in Langmuir:

    Here we focus on creating dispersion of highly hydrophobic vitamin E aggregates in the lenses as barriers for drug diffusion for increasing the release durations. This approach has been shown previously to be successful in extending the release durations for some common hydrophilic ophthalmic drugs. The topical anesthetic drugs considered here (lidocaine, bupivacaine, and tetracaine) are hydrophilic at physiologic pH due to the charge, and so these cannot partition into the vitamin E barriers. However, these surface active drug molecules adsorb on the surface of the vitamin E barriers and diffuse along the surface, leading to only a small decrease in the effective diffusivity compared to non-surface-active hydrophilic drugs. The drug adsorption can be described by the Langmuir isotherm, and measurements of surface coverage of the drugs on the vitamin E provide an estimate of the available surface area of vitamin E, which can then be utilized to estimate the size of the aggregates. A diffusion controlled transport model that includes surface diffusion along the vitamin E aggregates and diffusion in the gel fit the transport data well. In conclusion, the vitamin E loaded silicone contact lens can provide continuous anesthetics release for about 1–7 days, depending on the method of drug loading in the lenses, and thus could be very useful for postoperative pain control after corneal surgery such as the photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) procedure for vision correction.

    Cool, simply cool.

    Check out the image and rest of the article “Transport of Topical Anesthetics in Vitamin E Loaded Silicone Hydrogel Contact Lenses” at the Langmuir site.