Talyst » Jerry’s Blogs

Thoughts on the 2011 ASHP National Survey of Pharmacy Practice – Dispensing and Administration

Jerry Fahrni — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:14:07 +0000

The American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy (AJHP) recently published the results of the 2011 ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings, specifically related to dispensing and administration. The ASHP survey represents the most comprehensive look at the current … Read More »

Mobile healthcare, panacea or predicament?

Jerry Fahrni — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:47:01 +0000

Contrary to popular belief mobile healthcare is not new. It’s been around for more than a decade with the introduction of Microsoft’s pen-driven tablet PC in 2001 and the personal digital assistant (PDA) long before that. But it wasn’t until … Read More »

The promise of Big Data

Jerry Fahrni — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:58:20 +0000

Healthcare generates millions of bytes of data every single day. The data arrives at break-neck speed from many different sources, including demographic information, medical tests, radiological images, laboratory results, e-prescribing system, electronic health records, and more recently, from sensors and … Read More »

HIMSS12 in retrospect

Jerry Fahrni — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 01:02:21 +0000

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Annual Conference & Exhibition (HIMSS12), was held in Las Vegas last week. The HIMSS conference brings together some of the most brilliant minds in healthcare informatics to discuss and share cutting edge information … Read More »

Taking advantage of bar-coding opportunities

Jerry Fahrni — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:33:23 +0000

Despite being heavily used in industries such as manufacturing, commercial sales, publishing, advertising, and shipping, the use of bar-code technology in healthcare remains relatively scarce. At last count, just over one third (34.5%) of hospitals have adopted bar-code scanning(1). While … Read More »

Most hospital errors go unreported

Jerry Fahrni — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:15:42 +0000

A report cited by a recent New York Times article says that only one out of every seven errors, accidents and other harmful events are report by hospital employees. In fact, errors occur more frequently than many are willing to … Read More »

Telepharmacy, bridge technology or the future of pharmacy?

Jerry Fahrni — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:25:10 +0000

Telemedicine is often defined as “the use of telecommunication technologies to deliver medical information and services to locations at a distance from the care giver or educator.” While there does not appear to be an official definition of telepharmacy, one … Read More »

Automating the cleanroom

Jerry Fahrni — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:30:25 +0000

The cleanroom environment, a.k.a. the IV room, is one of my favorite areas inside an acute care pharmacy. It is often alive with activity, and can often be the busiest area of the pharmacy. It is also a unique place … Read More »

The future of pharmacy, it’s all in the data and how we use it

Jerry Fahrni — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:18:58 +0000

Pharmacy continues to search for an identity among a sea of healthcare professionals. The difficulty doesn’t appear to be where the profession is headed, but rather how to get there. A majority of pharmacy professionals believe that the future of … Read More »

Is technology the key to preventing medication errors?

Jerry Fahrni — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 23:30:20 +0000

A friend and I were having a casual conversation when the issue of a recent medication error crept into the discussion. The error occurred at a Walgreens where Durasal, salisylic acid 26% for wart removal, was mistakenly filled in place of … Read More »