Actually.. if you look at most reviews (tech reviews) on the iphone, you'll see that most of them say the exact opposite of what you're saying. The reason the iphone gained popularity was cutting edge technology, but that they've lost that cutting edge innovation with subsequent models.
I don't see an app that uses a camera to identify medications catching on in the medical field. Can you say lawsuits? Attorney: "Mr pharmacist, how did you identify that drug?", Pharmacist: "We used an iphone app." Yeah, that'll go over well.... Pharmacists get paid well to do that, among other things. Rarely, do they even have to do that. Please use a fact checker, as med errors are not the billions in wasted money... "The 18-month study conducted by an 18-member panel of doctors, business people and public officials, broke down the waste in six major areas: $210 billion for unnecessary services, $190 billion for excess administrative, $130 billion for inefficient delivery of care, $105 billion for inflated prices, $75 billion for fraud and $55 billion for prevention failures" I also want to note that medication delivery has changed in most hospitals. We're required to scan a barcode attached to the patient and then the medication prior to administration. If the medication, dose, route, patient, allergies, etc aren't all in alignment the computer will not accept the scan, and we subsequently do not administer the medication. Medication errors rarely happen in hospitals that have this technology (though, people that do not follow the protocols will not fall under this umbrella). Most urban hospitals and a large amount of rural hospitals are turning to these type of systems because of the reduction in medication errors.
Guess I'm not what you'd call cutting edge:-/ All I know is for what I'm using it for its great and these Apple store are ALWAYS mobbed with customers not wanting the other company's Quote: cutting edge technologies. It's like PC kids going on about how much better and faster their PC computers are at gaming:-/. You got me, the last time I played a video game my main form of transportation was a BMX bicycle:-/ I use my computers and phone for work and information. Not and game on my phone or any other none productive BS. All I know is my iPhone never crashes and always gets reception. I'm always the guy to get info from when my other friends "top technology" phone are down again. Seriously, I don't even rag on them anymore about their phones always locking up or not getting a signal. It's just sad now.
Lol if you think picture identification isn't already used behind most every pharmacy counter and call center in the nation you are in denial. Nurses and doctors have as little as 1 semester in pharmacotherapy training so any tech program to help them will be a huge asset to the industry. E scribing is already helping majorly with medication errors but there is a HUGE gap still to be bridged. Patient adherence equates to most of the lost costs of medication errors but education and programs such as these to make it easier to follow a regimen are the only way to improve this for outpatient settings. But keep believing technology advances wont continue to advance every single aspect of the medical field and cut waste, errors, and costs if that mindset floats your boat.
Sure, picture identification is used.. duh... but it's pharmacists using a computer to make the comparisons, not a computer doing it on it's own... Have you taken pharmacology? I have.. it was brutal. Learning 200 drugs in two semesters was daunting. What you find out is that mostly the same drugs are used in the real world. There are times when you see a drug and don't know what it is (usually new cancer drugs, or similar medications that have just been developed). That's when you use micromedex and look it up, and you look it up based on the name, not a picture. The only time picture identification is used is when we don't know what a drug is (ie, in the ER when drug users that have OD'd have them in a film canister and can't tell us what they are). E scribing? You mean doctors using computers? Got me there, but it's not the computer ordering the medication... Patient adherence? You mean patients not doing what their doctors tell them? Yeah, an Iphone app will fix that (you're in la-la land if you think that's true). I'm not sure how you think a med identification program is going to help a patient adhere to a regimen. Is this iphone app going to make them do what their doctor prescribes? lol.... again.. follow the yellow brick road. Also, please explain how these lost costs are attributed to medication errors? References? Reminds me of Paul Ryan just spouting off things like he ran a marathon in 2 hours... Facts, please... Again, I said we use barcode systems, that's technology. I don't dispute that technology makes advances in the medical field. It happens everyday, from electronic charting, to robots being used for surgery (contrary to what it sounds, it's still the doctor telling the robot what to do, not the other way around - like this iphone app you're touting). I won't say that there's no way a phone could help someone, say a calendar to remind people to take their medications, but that's a simple app that already exists.... Pharmacists already use computers to check drug interactions, etc. Yes, those things (databases) could be put on a phone, but since they all have computers at their work stations.. well.... There's a lot of information to read and a bigger screen (ie, computer monitor) is better suited for the task. My point is that an iphone app isn't likely to revolutionize the medical industry. Impossible, no.. just not likely.
Medication errors lead to billions upon billions in costs for healthcare annually, fact regardless of what google or wikipedia says otherwise. Doctors no longer hand writing the scripts helped a ton. Barcode scanning systems for nurses and techs has helped even more. The numbers are vastly improved, but leave a lot to be desired. This app (if successful) will be similar to the progressive "safe driver" discount. Plug their gps device into your car, drive slow and prove you are safe and your rates are reduced. This will be voluntary for insurance companies to offer, Snap daily pics of your meds you take which are automatically uploaded to the insurance company, prove a strict medication regime (doing what the doc says for a change) and your rates will then come down rewarding both you and the company monetarily in the long run. It also allows family members to track what their elderly parents are taking...anyone here know exactly what your mom is taking daily? I sure don't. Snap a pic and it comes up with complete drug profiles, drug interactions between her drugs, even possible side effects (all drawn from Med Span database that most every hospitals also use as their database)...with no limit to who you can track. Are you a nurse in a nursing home in charge of medicating 15 elderly patients 3x daily? Set up profiles for every patient on your iPad or iPhone and keep everything organized with pictures available in case you drop pills and get them mixed up. What about MTM (medication therapy management) services now offered in pharmacies, more specifically the brown bag exercise. Have Ole Mrs Smith come in with all her meds (6-12 even more quite often) dump them out on the table and explain to you what she's taking for what and how often for each. The majority of the time they have no clue what they are taking and when. This app instantly shows her and the pharmacist what any unidentified meds are, drug interactions between them, and allows her to set up a tracking system on her phone of which ones to take when (with proof of taking them) and what they are actually for. Chronic preventable diseases DOMINATE our medical expenditures and until we find ways to get patients to help us drag these costs down, nothing will change. Spending pennies on the dollar for technology programs vs fixing problems WE cause is only smart business and is most certainly the direction we are headed. As for pharmacology nope, sure haven't. I am however in my 3rd semester of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 1st of Pharmacotherapy, and 2nd of Pharmacokinetics...with 3 more to go in each of them. We don't take one or sometimes two semesters of it, we split it into 3 separate courses and take them over 3 years. I do agree it is most certainly challenging and ever changing to keep up with though, thats for dang sure. I'm done with this argument as it strayed from my original intention of showing how often times App providers choose not to mess with Android as the platform doesn't provide them the same longterm stability and client base Apple offers.
You may be done with the argument, but that doesn't mean you've proven anything, case in point. First: You have yet to show any basis of truth for your accusation. The Institute of Medicine conducted a study recently (the one you are hearing a lot about), and they don't mention medication errors as a contributing factor. Your statements of 100-300 billion, and billions upon billions are completely unfounded and not based on a realm of reality. Do they happen? Yes, of course, mistakes happen. Do they cost the healthcare industry hundreds of billions of dollars... no. Second: The drugs your mom is taking, the brown bag, etc etc. People bring in pill bottles, not random medications. Don't you think it's more fail-safe to impute medication names and come up with reactions, etc, as opposed to taking those meds out.. laying them on the counter, taking a picture, and hoping the computer doesn't cross one medication with another? You do realize there are many medications that are very similar... to the point that sometimes pharmacists have a difficult time discerning them? Two medications can have the same numbers, or shape, or color. You may need both sides of the medication to make the determination in this situation. So now you suggest that they take a picture, flip the meds, and take another? In theory, it's not a bad thing, but it isn't practice worthy. Third: Safe driver discount... lol.. Fourth: Obviously you're a pharmaceutical student. Great! It's a great profession with a good job forecast. We'll see how you feel when you start practicing. Let's see if your comfortable putting your license on the line to use an iphone app. My guess, no...
You seem to have it pretty well figured out.... Discounting a technology you know absolutely nothing about. The medispan database is already utilized by physicians and pharmacists everywhere who "put their license on the line to use it" so idk what you meant by that. Like I said, I am done with the argument. I'll see if there is public access to the article outlining medication error costs, and if so I'll pm it to you.
Man, I have to retype that whole post because this computer made a mistake. To make sure I haven't been out of line, and not in the minority I talked to 3 docs, 6 nurses, and 3 pharmacists and asked if they'd trust an app that used a phone's camera to ID meds. Resounding answer: "no". One pharmacist said (she's late 20s, so she's pretty current) "tell this kid he's a moron". Another said "in the hands of a pharmacist it wouldn't work better than what we have now, and in the hands of the everyday person it could be dangerous". Seems like you're the odd-man out. I know students know it all (I used to be one, in fact), experience means nothing after all.. right? To say "Discounting a technology you know absolutely nothing about" just shows your ignorance (just so you know, there are more databases than medispan, too!). I'm probably more familiar with this technology as I've been using it far longer than you. Let me spell it out for you: The pharmacists use databases to help THEM determine what a medication is. They compare the images, landmarks, numbers, shapes, colors inside the database. Ultimately, it is the pharmacist that identifies the drug. Good luck getting a hospital spending extra money on this app, the "tray", and the iphone when they already pay pharmacists to do this (and pay for the databases). Good luck getting a hospital to trust an "App" to do this identifying. It's just not going to happen. Now, that said, could I see an app that lets people put in their medications, dosages, and frequency, etc into a profile? Sure. It could then give possible adverse effects, possible drug-drug interactions, indications, etc etc. Let them imput a schedule and have it sound an alarm. Select the drugs from a database, based on the name. Not a terrible idea, not a great one, but not terrible either. Using a camera to do that... not going to happen.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll let this company know they aren't on to anything before they even release the beta testing to pharmacists and physicians for review/critiquing. I don't know anything myself, I'm just not condescending enough to discount any new ideas before I research them or try them out first. You obviously are, so again continue with your current methods in your utopia hospital where no errors happen and no possible room for improvement. You keep acting as if I am suggesting a pharmacist will soon not be seen without a phone in his hand snapping pics to get his info. It will simply be used as yet another tool, only faster, to identify many many drugs at once and expedite a drug profiling session for a patient. Even if it cuts out only the errors in MTM services by 1% the potential savings would greatly outweigh its costs. It will NEVER be an end all answer to replace pharmacists and their judgement, as you suggested when fishing for answers on how moronic I am... Keep fighting the good fight sir, you sure proved me wrong!
I didn't try to do anything. This is the exact question I asked: "Would you trust a phone app that used the camera to identify medications". I didn't ask it in a "Can you believe someone is wanting to do this". I proposed it in a way that they weren't able to identify which side I was on. I asked objectively. Again, I wanted to make sure it wasn't just my common sense that said it's not a great idea. I've been (hold your breath), wrong before. Companies are always trying to make money. This app would make them money. Of course they're going to try to get pharmacists and doctors to use it. Can you think of no other "technology" that's failed miserably in the medical field? I can.... we trial them on a regular basis. You know, big hospitals do this. If it was awesome, I'd try to get more information about it. You're also misinterpreting what I've said. You keep mentioning MTM, but again, how many times do you think these people bring in loose medications? I work in a hospital, I experience this on a regular basis. They bring in a bag full of pill bottles (and man it's a lot of them), not a sandwich bag full of pills. I'm not saying it never happens, because I'm sure it does. But I've personally never witnessed someone bring in a sandwich bag full of loose pills. The only time we ever have to identify medications is when it's an OD, or something like that and we find loose pills in their pocket, or in most cases, a film bottle. Our hospital utopia experiences errors, they all do. My point is this app opens up more chances for them, not the other way around. Think about it for a bit, and stop hearing the salesman's/woman's speech. You'll find out shortly that in medicine there's always someone that wants a piece of the pie. It'll be your job as a licensed professional to evaluate therapies and things such as this. You'll have to put patient safety above all else. It should tell you something if everyone that is doing the job says they wouldn't trust it.
Finding cheap labor in countries with lower working conditions standards. That is definitely what we do best. USA! USA! USA! http://mashable.com/2012/10/05/foxc...m=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable)
No, we are best at mandating higher standards here.(safety, environmental ,quality and wages) When companies can no longer afford to abide by all the regulations, then they are go overseas. When they move, then the company is blamed. There has to be some give and take on both sides and regulations put on the products coming back on to our shores. Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
The American end users are benefitting greatly with an affordable world leading smart phone and because we're in America you don't have to buy it or any products not made here. Isn't that great? Just sit and wait for the government to get with the unions and make your smart phone. All happy?
Anyone see this? Pretty funny. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattbuchanan/snl-savages-your-iphone-5-problems
Its been quite the journey, watching Americans throw each other under the bus one product at a time.Yea NAFTA. The Chinese can make us all the cheap stuff we can afford to buy,one product at a time, as long as its not what used to make at your home town. If we could just get them to send us some cheap teachers & cops to go along with micro waves and cell phones. Vi VA Wal Mart!
