The IM Era
Back in the days of yore (or the 80s), one of my favorite pastimes was writing in a notebook when I was supposed to be concentrating on the fundamentals of learning. Even more daring were the times that I would write a note, fold it up in an origami-style way (if origami had to compress itself into an undetectable wad), and pass it to a friend. I nearly always got caught.
Fast-forwarding to the present, I have to assume that kids today have it made. If they have gossip that absolutely can’t wait, there are several specialized electronic advances to text that gossip to friends via instant message (IM). Undoubtedly a certain amount of subterfuge remains a must; I doubt that cell phones, PDAs, etc. are allowed to be out during class. Still, we’ve come a long way in a short time with communication.
Electronic Medicine
Working in the healthcare industry for the last eight years, I’ve seen a lot of advances. Paper is necessary for labeling prescriptions and to affix a hard copy of the pharmacy’s dispensing record onto the back of the prescription, but more work is being done on faxes and scanners. Many doctors now use electronic charts rather than folders bulging with paper, and, as a result, medication errors are much easier to prevent. Many hospital pharmacies have a Pyxis system, which allows the pharmacy to stock medication vending machines on nursing units with the most common medications used in each unit. A pharmacist enters prescriptions into the hospital’s pharmacy computer system, which interfaces with the Pyxis machines. Nurses then use a fingerprint-scanning keypad to access the dispensing machines. Because the system uses fingerprint scans, nurses can access only certain machines and can get medications only for those patients for whom they have authorization.
Pharmacies have the electronic computer check as a back up to ensure that the right medication, strength and directions from the prescription are correctly dispensed to the customer. Scanning the prescription into the computer, it then becomes easily available to pull up and scan the stock bottle for the pharmacist. Different systems handle it in different ways; either flashing red messages saying NON-MATCHED! or label printers that won’t print if the wrong medication bar code is scanned.
