Jerry Fahrni

Tag: HIT

  • Saturday morning coffee [August 3 2013]: Wolverine, Google Glass, Moto X, RSS

    So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    It’s hard to believe that it’s August already. Where has the time gone? My youngest has to return to school in just over a week. It’s been nice having her around the house for the summer. There’s no bedtime, there’s no specific time that she has to get up, meal times are flexible, and so on. I’m already looking forward to Christmas vacation.

    The coffee mug below comes straight from a little shop in Ocean Shores, Washington. My family and I spent a few days vacationing in Washington state this summer and we came across a little shop where the artisan had her hand-crafted items for sale. It’s hard to see in the photo, but the mug sports various shades of blues and dark reds. It’s really quite pretty. Ocean Shores turned out to be a nice place to spend a couple of days. The ocean along with cool temperatures and overcast skies were a nice break from the 100 plus degree heat we were experiencing here in the Central Valley of California at the time.

    MUG_OceanShores
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  • Saturday morning coffee [November 17 2012]

    So much happens each and every week that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Here are some of the tabs that are open in my browser this morning along with some random thoughts….

    The coffee mug to the right is part of the “Indivisible” project from Starbucks. “America is about opportunity. About liberty and justice. About a job for every woman and man who wants one. Right now, these jobs aren’t out there, but we believe we can all help change that. When you buy this mug, you help too. Two dollars from the sale of each mug goes directly to Opportunity Finance Network® and the Create Jobs for USA Fund” I don’t buy much from Starbucks because I don’t like their coffee, but it’s my fallback position when I’m desperate. When I saw the mug it reminded me of the iconic symbol of pharmacy, i.e. the mortar from pharmacies famous mortar and pestle. I can’t remember where I picked it up, but I was on the road somewhere because I remember having to stuff it in my carry-on bag to get it home.
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  • Hospital called “hotbed for healthcare innovation” with “state-of-the-art NICU” also definition of irony

    According to good ol’ Merriam-Webster irony is defined as “the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning”. That’s the first thing that popped into my mind when I read the article referred to in the Tweet below from @ClinicalInnTech.

    The article talks about a state-of-the-art NICU at Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. The article has some great information in it and paints a great picture of some of the cool things that are being done there, but the presentation embedded in the article made me laugh.

    Slide #10 shows “resident pediatrician Carly Guss, MD, [pushing] a workstation on wheels [W.O.W.] through the NICU hallway toward a patient’s room”(image below). How much paper do you think can actually fit on that W.O.W.? It’s a good thing they’re using state-of-the-art technology. I’d hate to see what it would look like if they were using antiquated technology. The full set of slides can be found on SlideShare.

  • Physician mobile choice driving IT development

    imageamednews.com: “With an estimated 81% of physicians using smartphones (up from 72% in 2010), according to a survey of 2,041 physicians released May 4 by Manhattan Research, Albany Medical Center was not alone in feeling pressure from physicians to allow them mobile access. Hospitals and health information technology vendors are realizing that the way to sell physicians on health information technology is to make it mobile. Instead of hospitals and vendors telling physicians to adapt to their preferred ways of using technology, physicians are gaining the power to sway hospitals and vendors to their preferred way of using it.”

    There are a couple of take home messages from this article. First, the increased use of mobile technology is finally forcing healthcare systems to make changes to their approach to technology. It’s something that’s been needed for a long time. Second, the article clearly demonstrates that our healthcare system remains physician centric. It isn’t until physicians cry foul that changes are made. I first asked for “mobile support” in a hospital setting nearly a decade ago, and continued to ask for it until I left the industry about six months ago. Unfortunately I’m a lowly pharmacist. Even at the last facility I worked in, which considered themselves quite technologically advanced, it wasn’t until physicians began demanding iPad support that we got it.

    The more things change, the more they stay the same. Just sayin’.

  • 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?

  • How medical [or pharmacy] students can get into Health IT

    Healthcareguy.com: “If you’re a medical [or pharmacy] student who is also interested in information technology, there’s a great way to make both your passions meet and make a career out of it. Healthcare IT is a field that’s growing rapidly, more so with the advent of handheld smart devices that are making the sharing of information extremely simple. As a medical [or pharmacy] student, you have the advantage of being knowledgeable in the field, knowledge that you can apply to your new career.” Health care information technology is growing rapidly, and I think health care professionals have a unique perspective on how to design and implement the very systems they use on a daily basis.  It’s a good fit for me anyway.