Jerry Fahrni

Tag: Mobile Healthcare

  • Can the Apple tablet, i.e. the iSlate, resurrect interest for tablets in healthcare?

    I read an interesting blog today. In the blog the author states that:

    An Apple tablet would be the ultimate UI for electronic medical records. With a touch-screen display like the iPhone, using the EMR during an encounter would be simplified. For example, selecting an evaluation and management (E&M) code could be as easy as “dialing in” the code with a swipe of a finger.

    Using the iPhone’s intelligent keyboard technology, the device could have a very sophisticated automatic coding tool. Some EMRs can already auto-generate E&M codes based on information collected during the patient encounter. Combine this with the iPhone’s keyboard word suggestion tool, and physicians could rapidly select codes. Additionally, just as the iPhone adapts its keys and layout for different applications, the Mac Tablet could display a unique keyboard setting for each EMR function.

    Using iPhone speech recognition technology, physicians could dictate directly into an EMR to create notes, draft narrative reports or generate custom patient instructions. Mac design programs could be repurposed to make a really slick tablet drawing tool for anatomical diagrams that illustrate procedures and diagnoses.

    There is no question that I think tablets are underutilized in healthcare. I have pushed them into the hands of pharmacists at my facility and have tried various different things to encourage their use. While I would love to see tablet computers adopted in mass among healthcare systems, I just don’t think it’s in the cards for the iSlate for several reasons.
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  • Reading pharmacy literature on the go

    Like many pharmacists I read a lot of journal articles. This is especially true because of the dual role I play at my hospital. It’s not uncommon for me to read a couple of articles a day through the week and a few more thrown in on the weekend. The articles come from various medical and technology journals that I regularly visit plus the occasional article recommended by a friend or colleague. I still receive some journals in hard copy, but many now arrive electronically. Because I look into a computer screen 12-14 hours a day, I’m not particularly fond of reading articles on my laptop or tablet pc; it gives me a headache. As I’ve said many times, looking at a normal LCD monitor is like looking into a flashlight. Instead of reading PDFs on my computer I print them out and take them with me wherever I go (I can hear the collective moan from the conservationists in the crowd; sorry). This kind of defeats the purpose of having electronic documentation and certainly isn’t very “green”. With that said, advances in e-ink technology and e-reading devices may change my approach.

    I’ve been waiting for an e-reader that will allow me to read PDF files without having to zoom in and out or dance around the screen. I’ve tried reading on my Droid and my iPod Touch, and while possible, I wouldn’t want to do it for an extended period of time. It’s just not convenient.

    The Kindle DX was the first e-reader to hit the market with a screen big enough to accommodate my needs, and it was my front runner for quite a while. However, before dropping $500 on the DX I wanted to see some of the new devices that have been “on their way” since early 2009. Some of these devices are listed below.

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  • Looks like there is at least a little interest in Android and pharmacy

    I happened to check some statistics on my website this morning and found that the top searchpharases that brought people to my site over the weekend were related to the Droid and Lexi-comp (image below). I find this very interesting as well as encouraging.

  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of January 3rd

    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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  • New medical tablet from Sanwell offers RFID, barcode scanner

    Samwell has introduced a tablet PC designed specifically for the medical industry. The tablet is dubbed the MCA9 and offers a 1.6GHz Atom processor, a two megapixel camera, a RFID reader and optional bar code scanner, and an 8.9-inch TFT-LCD touch screen that is readable in sunlight.

    According to Samwell: “designed for medical application, the ability for data capture, record and transmission is highly valued. The built-in 2-megapixel camera is centrally mounted on the backside. The 1D/2D Barcode Scanner and 13.56 RFID reader support electronic medication administration records, reliable patient identification, and medical tracking.”

    I’m skeptical of tablets with built in bar code scanners designed for “medical application”. The Motion Computing C5 tablet has a similar design. Our facility trialed a C5 tablet earlier this year and nurses found it difficult to use and too heavy to carry for extended periods. The two megapixel camera and small screen may also present a problem for documentation and viewing patient data.

  • Cool Technology for Pharmacy

    This weeks cool technology comes by way of a comment left at RxInformatics.com in response to a recent post I wrote on smartphones and pharmacy practice.

    The author of the comment, @pillguy, is an iPhone fanboy and pharmacy technology guru.

    @pillguy:  “The iPhone certainly has some promising applications related to EHRs. Airstrip is one of the coolest I have seen.

    The smartphone takes PDAs to the next level with access to realtime information. I can see a TheraDoc, Pharmacy OneSource, or Zynx type clinical monitoring/alerting app fit in with the Airstrip suite nicely.”
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  • Are smartphones a viable platform for pharmacy practice?

    It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of tablet PCs. In fact, I can’t imagine life without one. The reason why acute care pharmacists haven’t adopted the tablet PC platform escapes me. My complete opinion on the matter can be found here.

    With the growing need for real-time access to patient data it no longer makes sense to be anchored to a desktop PC at the point-of-care. Couple this with the rapid growth of portable technology and you have a rare opportunity to develop a mobile pharmacy practice in the acute care setting. Whether that model will utilize tablet PCs, UMPCs, WebStations, netbooks or other mobile device remains to be seen.
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  • Dual screen laptops are pretty cool

    When I first heard of the concept of a dual screen laptop my initial thought was that it was a ridiculous idea. Then I spent a little time researching the product and have changed opinion. Now I’d like to put my hands on one.

    The Kohjinsha DZ dual-screen laptop is much smaller then I expected, which is a good thing. The device offers two 10.1” screens, giving you some nice screen real estate when both are open. Additional features include biometric fingerprint identification, 1.3 megapixel webcam, up to 4 GB RAM, built in wireless, a 3-in-1 media slot and Windows 7 Home Premium.
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  • “What’d I miss?” – Week of December 20th

    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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  • Physician dictation on mobile smartphones

    RTT News: “3M Health Information Systems has released 3M(TM) Mobile Dictation Software, a powerful new application that extends 3M’s dictation, transcription, and speech recognition solutions. Available on the BlackBerry(R) or Windows Mobile(R) platforms, the software offers physicians the freedom of using a single device for phone, email, and dictation, and provides “anytime, anywhere” access via Wi-Fi or 3G wireless service. 3M Mobile Dictation is enhanced with a full range of security features that fulfill HIPAA and hospital-specific guidelines for encryption and authentication.” – Developments such as mobile dictation could decrease the turnaround time between the physician’s spoken word and a readable document, which is one of the biggest issues with dictated notes. With the popularity of smartphones most physicians will have easy access to timely dictation. In theory that is.

    Visit the 3M site for more information.