Errors Associated with Outpatient Computerized Prescribing Systems

American Medical News has an story about something that should be self-evident to those of us who work with technology:   Involving a computer in the process doesn't prevent humans from making errors.


The study, Errors Associated with Outpatient Computerized Prescribing Systems, found that of 3850 computer-generated prescriptions received by a commercial outpatient pharmacy chain across three states

"About one in 10 computer-generated prescriptions included at least one error, of which a third had potential for harm."

This might be a good reading assignment for students who put a little too much faith in the ability of machines to catch their mistakes. 

Social Media and Pharmaceutical Self-Promotion; A Bad Cocktail or Public Health Service?

John McElhenney has a blog post entitled Social Media and Pharmaceutical Self-Promotion; A Bad Cocktail or Public Health Service? where he reviews how various pharmaceutical manufacturers use Facebook. He asks

Do the pharmaceutical companies provide valuable information through channels like Facebook and Twitter, or is it merely advertising cloaked as social media conversations? How much of what is deemed "social media" is simply repackaging of the drug maker's message and how much of it is actual discussion and dialogue?

Gary Theilman
University of Mississippi

Integrating Social Media into Emergency-Preparedness Efforts

The New England Journal of Medicine has a short article about the need for studies to examine the use of social media in public health:

Studies are needed to evaluate the reliability and validity of public health–related information communicated through social media. Some relevant metrics (e.g., Twitter Analytics, Flikr Stats, and Google Analytics) already exist and are used by the business community, yet few published scientific studies have applied these tools to evaluating the capabilities or effectiveness of social media in public health emergencies. Also lacking are studies evaluating whether the integration of social media into public health efforts affects the costs, quality, or outcomes of health care.

What's been your experience with social media to communicate health information?


Gary Theilman
University of Mississippi

Pharmacists Warned Not to Use Facebook

In Britain, pharmacists are being told not to "friend" their patients on Facebook and other social media sites.

I've seen surveys on opinions regarding faculty/student relations on Facebook. But what are you telling your students about interacting with patients on social media?

Pharmacy debuts new robotic system

The Fort Leavenworth Lamp  has a news story about a new pharmacy robot at Munson Army Health Center Pharmacy.    


Do any schools have required instruction on the use of pharmacy robots in their curriculum?   Or is the student getting information on robots just luck of the draw with respect to where they end up doing their experiential work?

FDA proposes regulation of mobile healthcare apps

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the FDA has introduced a proposal that would "allow it to regulate smartphone and tablet apps that relate to health and medical needs".

This might include apps for smartphones that measure blood pressure, ultrasound apps and handheld cancer detectors.

Is anyone working with students to help educate patients about the use of mobile electronic devices to monitor their health?

Via Gizmodo

Amazon allowing students to "rent" textbooks on Kindle

Amazon has announced that they will start allowing students to rent textbooks on their Kindle for 30 - 360 days for "up to 80% off the list price of the print textbook".


Annotations that the student makes to the textbook will be preserved even after the rental period ends.


I didn't see much in the way of pharmacy-specific titles for rent, but Amazon plans to make more and more titles available over time.


Are we seeing the beginning of the end for paper and ink textbooks?

Educational Research and Facebook Privacy

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article detailing some of the ethical concerns of using data collected from Facebook as part of educational research.


What has been your experience with respect to asking students to provide consent to participate in research related to teaching?