Jerry Fahrni

Tag: information technology

  • Speech recognition demonstrates value in report tunrnaround time

    I came across an interesting tidbit at CMIO.net referencing an article in the July edition of the American Journal of Roentgenology (Roentgenology definition here – yeah, I had to look it up). “According to the research team, the average report turn-around time for the department before implementation of voice recognition was 28 hours. After implementation of voice recognition, the average turn-around time was 12.7 hours, the study noted.” The original article can be found at the AJR website. The abstract is free, but you’ll need a subscription to access the complete article; or be fortunate enough to have access to a medical librarian which I do.

    Voice recognition is one of those things that has been around for quite some time, but no one seems to talk about it. I for one think it could provide value in pharmacy applications (Thoughts on speech recognition in pharmacy – September 16, 2009). I would be interested to know if anyone is exploring the use of voice recognition in pharmacy applications, if for no other reason than the pure entertainment value.

  • What type of techie are you?

    Technology is a funny thing. It’s as diverse as it is interesting. Like many other disciplines, the field of pharmacy technology offers a host of options for pretty much every taste. And not everyone considers all types of pharmacy technology interesting, which has become abundantly clear to me as I continue to meet more professionals in my field.

    My opinions on certain key pharmacy and automation technologies are clearly in conflict with many of my friends and colleagues. It’s an odd thing being in the minority and it can drive someone to think their ideas are wrong. However, after serious consideration I realized that the main difference between many of my colleagues and myself is that I tend to be drawn toward hardware based technology while they are drawn toward software technology and regulatory affairs. While it’s true that I like playing with certain types of software, in general it doesn’t have much to offer. Thinking about how to make a piece of software easier to use might be interesting, but if you really think about it that is a gray area between software and hardware, i.e. user interface not necessarily software functionality. That’s probably some type of human engineering discipline to be sure, but I don’t have an official term. And let’s face it, regulatory affairs is simply boring. It’s a necessary evil in healthcare as every governmental agency thinks they need to regulate pharmacy and medicine with more rules then you can shake a stick at, but there really isn’t a while lot you can do with it besides learn it and use it.
    (more…)

  • Use of pharmacy informatics resources in hospital pharmacies

    ajhpI read an interesting article today in the November 1, 2009 issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (AJHP). In the article the authors report the results of survey sent to 200 hospitals in the US developed to assess the use of various informatics resources by pharmacy departments. The survey consisted of two-sections with a total of 20 questions. Only hospitals with at least 100 beds were included, and of the 200 surveys mailed only 114 were returned More information on the specifics of the survey can be found at the AJHP website here.
    (more…)

  • Best of the web, well for today anyway

    Just some items of interest that various folks on Twitter forced me to read.
    (more…)

  • Which internet browser do you prefer?

    I can’t help myself. I’m constantly tinkering with one thing or another when it comes to my laptop. Lately I’ve been playing around with different internet browsers. Like everyone else, I cut my teeth using Internet Explorer (IE); mainly because it was the only browser out there for a long time. Things have certainly changed as there are now several browsers to choose from and IE is no longer king.

    On occasion I will download the most recent version reincarnation of IE. I’m not sure why I do it, but I do. No matter what changes Microsoft makes the browsing experience just isn’t what it could be. IE improves with each release to be sure, but the improvements always seem to come up short.
    (more…)

  • Next Health 2.0 Conference

    This is something that I’ve become more interested in lately….”the ways that information technology and the web are changing healthcare in areas from online search to health focused online communities and social networks. ”

    My chance is coming up later this year in October. Lucky for me it’s just up the road in San Francisco. If you can call 200 miles just up the road. More information can be found at the Health 2.0 website.