Jerry Fahrni

Tag: Mobile Healthcare

  • Tougher mobile technology – laptops and tablet PCs

    I’m a relatively inexperienced traveler. I’ve only flown approximately tens times in my entire life, and most of those have been in the past 18 months. It’s been great, however I always find it difficult to decide what mobile devices to carry with me. I always carry my DROID and iPhone, but can never seem to pick between laptop, tablet PC or both. Yes I’ve thought about the iPad, but I really need a physical keyboard and more robust applications for what I do. My needs may change in the future, but for now that’s my take on the issue.
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  • PracticeRx by Doctor’s Digest for the iPhone

    I saw this application in the new issue of Hospital Pharmacy. PracticeRx is an application from Doctor’s Digest that provides informational practice tips and various alerts on health care related topics

    The registration process is quick, easy and requires that you identify your profession and specialty practice area. There are some screen shots below that show the process. I’m not clear why they want to know your specialty area, but assume the application attempts to tailor the information to your area of interest.

    I haven’t had a lot of time to explore PracticeRx, but the overall layout is nice and I found some of the small articles interesting. One annoyance is the pop-up screen that appears when you first log in. I understand the need to advertise, but a little more discretion would be appreciated.

  • The rise of the tablet, the cloud and ubiquitous computing

    There’s a great article in the April 2010 issue of Wired that spends a lot of time talking about the Apple iPad and the paradigm shift created by the development of new technologies like it. The author does a nice job of not only looking at the fantasy like love affair everyone has with the iPad, but also the reality of what’s not perfect about it and where other aggressive competitors can take advantage and drive the tablet market even further.
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  • Medscape Mobile for the BlackBerry

    Medscape has been around for quite some time. In fact it was one of the first online communities offering specific information for pharmacists. I started using it sometime around 1997. It hadn’t been around for long at that time, but the content was well done.

    I received an email last week introducing the availability of Mobile Medscape for the BlackBerry; it was previously available for the iPhone and iPod touch.

    According to the email:

    > FASTER & LARGER Drug Reference
    Look up info in seconds for 7,000+ prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) brands and generics, including herbals and supplements.

    > FASTER Interaction Checker
    Quickly check interactions between drugs, herbals, and supplements – input as many drug combinations as you want.

    > IN-DEPTH Medical News
    Review the latest medical news in your specialty right in the app – news updated daily across 30 specialty areas.

    > EASIER Navigation
    Our app is designed to make it easier to look up and save drug information, read medical news, and access features.

    The application is completely free and can be found at www.medscape.com/blackberry.

    I think it’s great that Medscape Mobile is available for the BlackBerry now, but I have to wonder what the demand for such an application will be with so many physicians, nurses and pharmacists going to the iPhone. It would be interesting to see the download numbers for Medscape Mobile for each platform.

    More information on the general content of Medscape Mobile can be found here.

  • Monday morning musings

    For some, weekends are a good time to sit around and relax. I tend to do that in the early morning hours of the weekends because the house is quiet and it doesn’t take away from any of the activities that happen during the “normal hours”. It gives me time to catch up on things that I like to do; surf the net and read articles.
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  • One pharmacist’s opinion: iPhone vs. DROID

    I’ve been carrying a Motorola DROID since Verizon made it available back in November 2009. I’ve enjoyed many of its features and consider it a great mobile device. Recently I came into possession of an iPhone. I’ve wanted an iPhone for quite some time, but have been quite outspoken about not switching to AT&T because of poor coverage in our area; Central Valley of California.

    Having both devices in my possession has given me the perfect opportunity to test them head-to-head to see which setup I prefer. My original plan was to carry the iPhone exclusively for a month or so to see if I could completely replace my DROID. Unfortunately number forwarding only works with calls. Text messages would continue going to my DROID which would create a problem for me as I receive text messages several fold more than I do direct calls. So I have been carrying both devices for the past few weeks.
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  • Motion C5 tablet gets a ride

    Motion Computing makes several Mobile Clinical Assistants (MCA), including the popular Motion C5 tablet. Don’t be confused by the MCA moniker, a MCA is simply a rugged tablet PC with some additional features like a barcode or RFID scanner and a digital camera. You can get more information on MCAs at the Intel website.

    I’ve been fairly critical of this class of device in the past for several reasons. After using the Motion C5 for several weeks last year I found the 10.4 inch screen much too small for everyday use. In addition the design of the placement for the barcode scanner in the handle made the MCA too cumbersome to be really effective in patient care areas; it required too much manipulation to scan patient wrist bands. The nurses I’ve worked with tend to agree.
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  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of March 7, 2010

    As usual there were a lot of things that happened during the week, and not all of it was pharmacy or technology related. Here’s a quick look at some of the stuff I found interesting.

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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.

  • 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.