Freescale Home Health Hub wants to usher in the era of connected medical devices

Engadget has a short piece about the Freescale Home Health Hub.  

The Hub is... a central point for connecting various medical devices like blood pressure monitors or glucometers that then feeds data to a tablet. 

There's a link on the blog to the company's Press Release. 

iPhone 4S and HIPAA

I ran across this blurb in an article entitled Six iPhone 4S features you may have missed:

The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to support Bluetooth 4.0, a low-energy Bluetooth spec that allows devices to sync via Bluetooth while consuming far less power than traditional Bluetooth devices. This low-power version of Bluetooth doesn't support voice -- headsets and other voice devices still have to transmit over one of the higher-power specs -- but it does support transmission of data from other peripherals like heart rate monitors, watches, and input devices like keyboards or game controllers.

The Bluetooth 4.0 built-in to the iPhone 4S apparently has the potential for spawning a plethora of new apps related to monitoring personal health, such as glucometers.

Is the Russian Mob running online pharmacies?

This originally appeared a few months ago in The Guardian, but I just ran across it cited in a more recent article.

The story has to do with cracking down on sale of counterfeit medications.  What caught my eye was this:

Most of the fake pharmacy websites are facilitated by Chinese or Russian criminal organisations, says the MHRA, while counterfeit drugs are most often made in China or India.
An additional danger for those wanting to buy their medicines online is that they may put their identity and financial details into the hands of organised crime, it adds.

So, in addition to the possibility of getting fake Viagra there's also the potential for getting further ripped off by the Russian mob?   Scary stuff... 

"Do You Have a Lesson to Teach?"

TED2012 is seeking for 10 of the world's best teachers. If you are not familiar with TED, please visit their amazing web site - http://www.ted.com. Technology/Entertainment/Design were 3 of the first talk topics presented to the world by TED. There are so many more available for you to see, learn from and share with your students.

Is there an educator in this group that will become a next TED teacher?

http://blog.ted.com/2011/11/09/do-you-have-a-lesson-to-teach-seeking-nominations-for-ted2012-the-classroom/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TEDBlog+(TEDBlog)&utm_content=Google+Reader

Glooko Enlists the iPhone For Managing Your Diabetes

Gizmodo has some information about Glooko, a service that connect the iPhone to a glucometer.

The $40 sync cable tethers to your iPhone or iPod Touch's dock connector, automatically downloading blood sugar readings from six of the most popular blood glucose meters from Bayer, OneTouch and FreeStyle. The cable works in conjunction with the free Glooko app which not only keeps track of when the reading was taken, but also allows you to add pertinent notes about how you were feeling at the time, your level of physical activity, or what you had recently eaten.

Walgreens pharmacies outfits "health guides" with iPads

From the Chicago Sun-Times we have an article about Walgreens having an iPad-toting employee may just ask if you need help finding real-time health information.

The health guide — a new, full-time employee stationed at 16 Walgreens stores in the Chicago area — is part of the Deerfield-based company’s efforts to become what it calls a “health and daily living resource.”

“The concept is meant to create a pharmacy and health care ‘help desk’ where customers get solutions or referrals for their personal health questions,” said Colin Watts, Walgreen Co.’s chief innovation officer.

Interestingly, the "health guide" is not a pharmacist.  Rather, the role of the health guide is to "keep patients from taking up valuable [pharmacist] time with routine issues".  Supposedly this is to allow the pharmacist to spend more one-on-one time with patients.

Cloud Computing: Promises, Opportunities, and Challenges

Update: Here's the video  http://aacp.adobeconnect.com/p34ek6gr41j/

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American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy

Technology in Pharmacy Education and Learning Special Interest Group Webinar Series Presents:

Cloud Computing: Promises, Opportunities, and  Challenges

Thursday, November 10, 2011, 12:00 p.m. Central Time.

By the end of this session, learners will be able to:

• Define the term "cloud computing"
• Provide practical examples of cloud-based tools that can be used for teaching and learning
• Identify some of the strengths of using cloud-based tools in (and out of) the classroom
• Explain some of the legal and technical challenges associated with using cloud-based tools in their classes
• Apply techniques for using cloud-based tools in their own areas of instruction 

Presenters:

• Dr. Jeannine Conway is an Assistant Professor of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and the Director of the PCLC lab at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.
• Dr. Doneka Scott is an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems and Director of Student Learning, Assessment, & Research at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.
• Dr. Jude Higdon, Ed.D. is the Director of Innovative Learning and Academic Technology at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

 Webinar Site Address: http://aacp.adobeconnect.com/tipel

It is recommended to listen to the audio portion of the webinar through your computer speakers. If you do not have speakers or are having audio difficulties, then audio is made available via the following conference call information below.

Conference Call Information:
Phone number: 1-800-377-8846
Participant Code: 94061839#

Please log into the site as a guest using your e-mail address.

Additional Details:

• The meeting room will open at 11:45 a.m. Central Time.
• Participants can access the audio portion of the Webinar via phone (conference call) or computer speakers.
• Participant audio input will be muted so they are not able to speak to other participants, the presenter or moderator.
• Participants can submit questions to the moderator or IT support person via chat. The moderator will review all chat questions and ask selected questions to the presenter periodically.
• An IT support person from AACP will be present throughout the duration of the Webinar to assist with technical support requests from participants (to be received from participants via text chat).

Webinar access information is also available on the TiPEL SIG web site at http://www.aacp.org/governance/SIGS/technology/Pages/default.aspx.

We hope to see you on Thursday. For those who cannot attend, an archive of the webinar will be posted within 24-hours of the event.

University iPad program reveals room for improvement

From TUAW we have news of a couple of studies involving iPads in the classroom.  The faculty who were surveyed listed a number of problems they saw with using the device in the classroom.  At the same time, another study reports that pretty much everyone is getting ready to use them in the classroom, anyway.

Errors associated with outpatient computerized prescribing systems

Errors associated with outpatient computerized prescribing systems.
Nanji KC, Rothschild JM, Salzberg C, Keohane CA, Zigmont K, Devita J, Gandhi TK, Dalal AK, Bates DW, Poon EG.  J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2011 Nov 1;18(6):767-73. Epub 2011 Jun 29.


Abstract
Objective To report the frequency, types, and causes of errors associated with outpatient computer-generated prescriptions, and to develop a framework to classify these errors to determine which strategies have greatest potential for preventing them. 

Materials and methods This is a retrospective cohort study of 3850 computer-generated prescriptions received by a commercial outpatient pharmacy chain across three states over 4 weeks in 2008. A clinician panel reviewed the prescriptions using a previously described method to identify and classify medication errors. Primary outcomes were the incidence of medication errors; potential adverse drug events, defined as errors with potential for harm; and rate of prescribing errors by error type and by prescribing system. 

Results Of 3850 prescriptions, 452 (11.7%) contained 466 total errors, of which 163 (35.0%) were considered potential adverse drug events. Error rates varied by computerized prescribing system, from 5.1% to 37.5%. The most common error was omitted information (60.7% of all errors). 

Discussion About one in 10 computer-generated prescriptions included at least one error, of which a third had potential for harm. This is consistent with the literature on manual handwritten prescription error rates. The number, type, and severity of errors varied by computerized prescribing system, suggesting that some systems may be better at preventing errors than others. 

Conclusions Implementing a computerized prescribing system without comprehensive functionality and processes in place to ensure meaningful system use does not decrease medication errors. The authors offer targeted recommendations on improving computerized prescribing systems to prevent errors.