Pharmacy business apps can boost profits

From Drug Topics is an article on "apps" written by a PGY-1 resident.

This article will help the community pharmacist make better use of business-enhancing apps that can help improve the bottom line.

The usual suspects are listed (Evernote, Dropbox, Calendar) but there's a few that might be new to some readers.

FDA regulators face daunting task as health apps multiply

There's an article in USA Today about the proliferation of health care "apps".  

Last year, the FDA began to lay down the law. The agency released a first draft of guidelines that require mobile apps developers making medical claims to apply for FDA approval for those applications, the same way that new medical devices must be proved safe and effective before they can be sold. But that process can be both time-consuming and expensive

This article might be helpful to remind our students that the FDA doesn't just approve drugs.

Gaming in Pharmacy Education Webinar is Online

The archive of the webinar titled, "Gaming in Pharmacy Education" is now available online at URL:
http://aacp.adobeconnect.com/p4kigkixfzi/


Topic: Gaming in Pharmacy Education
Presenters:


Game Shows (Price is Right, Family Feud, and $100,000 pyramid)
Benjamin Chavez, Pharm.D., BCPP
Assistant Professor
University of Hawaii - Hilo, College of Pharmacy


Online Pharmacy Trivia Game
Michael E. Klepser, Pharm.D., FCCP
Professor of Pharmacy
Ferris State University College of Pharmacy


Second Life
Teresa M. Seefeldt, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences
College of Pharmacy
South Dakota State University


Moderator:
Eric Wombwell, Pharm.D., BCPS
TiPEL SIG Webinar Committee Member
Clinical Assistant Professor – UMKC School of Pharmacy

A Brief Review of 'Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age'

Book information:
Author: Kurt Squire
Year: 2011
Publisher: Teachers College Press, NY
Pages: 234
Cost: $29.95
ISBN: 978-0-8077-5198-5

In 'Video Games and Learning', Kurt Squire, Associate Professor in the Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides an insightful comprehensive overview of contemporary issues relating to educational gaming. In addition, he also shares personal anecdotes of lessons learned from his experiences with games and how games have shaped him as a learner, educator and researcher. Throughout the book, the reader will understand why games should be studied in an educational context, what constitutes a good educational game and how learning occurs in games.

The text is full of detailed examples of the educational use of both commercial games and games developed for specific instructional needs. While the author focuses heavily on the use of games in K-12 education, the concepts presented are applicable to higher and adult education, where developing expertise and 21st century skills are still warranted. Educators and researchers of gaming and/or education would benefit from reading and studying this book. Considering what is expected of our students today in terms of communication, cooperation, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, we need to reflect upon our practices and be thoughtful and creative in our instruction. Games can be a powerful tool that stimulate interest, motivate, and promote learning.

Of note, the author specifically points to personalized medicine as an area of interest for educational games.

“My own next generation of research will explore whether we can partner with scientists doing cutting-edge work in areas such as nanotechnology, epigenetics, personalized medicine, or systems biology to create games that communicate the ideas in their fields to broader publics.”

What other topics in pharmacy education and/or the health sciences could be applied in educational games?

Ex-Stanford Prof Starts a Totally Free Online School

Not specifically pharmacy-related, but this story has been getting a lot of play on the various tech blogs this week

Sebastian Thrun is leaving his post as a researcher and professor at Stanford to start Udacity, which will teach Computer Science college courses online and completely free of charge. The first two courses are CS 101: Building a Search Engine and CS 373: Programming a Robotic Car.

Lots of sites have picked up this story, but here's a link to the one at Gizmodo which has a video.

Kaiser Permanente Takes Millions Of Medical Records Mobile With New Android App

One of the industry heavy weights is embracing mobile technology for patient records

... Kaiser Permanente patients can get full access to the company’s health record system and all that comes with it, which they already could do through kp.org, from their mobile devices. In 2011, Kaiser more than 68 million lab test results available online to their patients, and through the Android app and mobile web app, patients can now get 24/7 access to lab results, diagnostic information, direct and secure email access to doctors, schedule appointments, and order prescription refills.

An app for iOS is planned in the next few months.   Full story at TechCrunch

Webinar Recording from January 25, 2012

The third TiPEL-SIG webinar of the year was a great success.   For those who missed it, the video is posted here.




Title:  Simulation Based Learning in Pharmacy Education

Presenters:
Amy L. Seybert, B.S., Pharm.D.
Interim Chair and Associate Professor, Pharmacy and Therapeutics,
University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh
Associate Director for Pharmacy Programs
Peter M. Winter Institute for Simulation Education and Research (WISER Institute)

Erica J. Ottis, Pharm.D., BCPS
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
University of Missouri-Kansas City at MU
Clinical Specialist- Inpatient Internal Medicine