Brent I. Fox

Use of Twitter to encourage interaction in a multi-campus pharmacy management course.

Objective. To implement and assess the effectiveness of using Twitter to encourage interaction between faculty members, guests, and students in a pharmacy management course taught simultaneously on 2 campuses. Design. Students were required to tweet a minimum of 10 times over several class sessions. The course instructor and guest professionals also participated. Assessment. More than eighteen hundred tweets were made by students, guests, and the instructor. Students tweeted most frequently with each other and found value in reading each others’ tweets. One hundred thirty-one students completed an optional evaluation survey. Seventy-one percent indicated that Twitter was distracting, 69% believed it prevented note taking, and more than 80% indicated that it facilitated class participation and allowed an opportunity to voice opinions. Conclusion. Educators who wish to use Twitter in pharmacy courses must balance the potentially positive aspects of the technology, such as increased interaction among students, with potentially negative aspects, such as the interruptive nature of Twitter use and the large volume of tweets generated by a class assignment.

Opportunities for pharmacists in mobile health

Mobile health (mHealth) can be defined as the use of mobile devices and global networks to deliver health services and information. Mobile devices most commonly include cell phones (i.e., feature phones and smartphones) and tablets (e.g., iPad, Surface). However, these devices can also come in the

Potential uses of google glass in the pharmacy.

Technology companies are in a constant battle for consumers’ interest in their products. This leads to rapid change and innovation. Google Glass is a recent innovation that will soon be available to the general public. In this article, we briefly describe our experiences with Google Glass and suggest ways we think it can be used in the hospital pharmacy setting.

Implementation of a school-wide clinical intervention documentation system.

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness and impact of a customized Web-based software program implemented in 2006 for school-wide documentation of clinical interventions by pharmacy practice faculty members, pharmacy residents, and student pharmacists. Methods. The implementation process, directed by a committee of faculty members and school administrators, included preparation and refinement of the software, user training, development of forms and reports, and integration of the documentation process within the curriculum. Results. Use of the documentation tool consistently increased from May 2007 to December 2010. Over 187,000 interventions were documented with over

Information technology and pharmacy education.

6.2 million in associated cost avoidance. Conclusions. Successful implementation of a school-wide documentation tool required considerable time from the oversight committee and a comprehensive training program for all users, with ongoing monitoring of data collection practices. Data collected proved to be useful to show the impact of faculty members, residents, and student pharmacists at affiliated training sites.

Pharmacists’ duty to warn in the age of social media

Information technology permeates pharmacy education. Attempts to succinctly describe and analyze the complete range of information technology in use would be met with considerable challenges as the technology array is diverse in complexity and capability. Acknowledging the near ubiquity of information technology in pharmacy education, and recognizing the inherent challenges of presenting an exhaustive analysis of technology use, this supplement is devoted to several key information technology topics for pharmacy education. Colleges of pharmacy are challenged with making decisions regarding investments in information technology to support their work. These investments can take many forms, including monetary and personnel resources. In the health information systems marketplace, site visits are a de facto must-do when implementing a new clinical information system. Site visits allow potential adopters to see the technology under consideration in a live environment, and allow frank discussion between current and potential users. Monaghan and colleagues1 present the results of a nationwide survey describing information technology use in pharmacy education. Specifically, their paper details the creation of an open, searchable database that allows pharmacy faculty members and administrators to conduct virtual site visits to identify what information technology is being used, where it is being used, and who to contact for more information. Their work provides valuable information for those seeking to learn about real-world experiences with technology in pharmacy education. Social media is one category of information technology that is receiving attention for its possible use in education. Examples of social media include blogs, social networking sites, and online communities. Among the social media category of microblogs, Twitter.com is a popular service that is being explored for utility in education. Fox and Varadarajan2 describe experiences of 143 pharmacy students using Twitter in a pharmacy management course. Their experiences shed valuable insight into the potential challenges and benefits of using Twitter in a course that is primarily taught in lecture format. While the use of Twitter and other information technology tools is an instructional decision made by the faculty member, colleges and schools of pharmacy are increasingly being encouraged by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) to use portfolios for assessment of both students and faculty members.3 Electronic portfolios offer many potential improvements over paper-based portfolios, but they also present many challenges. Lopez and colleagues4 describe their experiences implementing a commercial ePortfolio application, including a description of the incorporation of curricular outcomes within their program as well as a discussion of management and logistical considerations for implementation. Two additional papers in the supplement also focus on information technology implementation. Our colleagues in institutional practice are often charged with demonstrating their clinical and financial impact. The academy faces similar challenges in demonstrating the impact and value of students and practice faculty members at experiential sites. The first paper, by Stevenson and colleagues,5 addresses this challenge in describing one pharmacy programs process and results of implementing a clinical intervention documentation system, including clinical and financial data from several years of usage. The second paper addresses implementation of a decidedly different technology: video conferencing. Fox and colleagues6 describe technology-related planning, construction, implementation, and ongoing use of resources to support a satellite campus through synchronous video conferencing. Because of the proliferation of multi-campus pharmacy programs,7 video conferencing is actually addressed in 3 papers in this supplement, including the Monaghan1 and Fox6 papers above. Additionally, Stolte and colleagues8 present student perspectives on video conferencing (among many technologies) in their description of student pharmacists’ perceptions of the impact of technology on education. Readers are encouraged to consider the findings in these papers6,8 related to the impact of video conferencing and student perspectives8 on several of the technologies described in the paper by Monaghan and colleagues.1 The last paper in the supplement addresses the knowledge and skills that pharmacy graduates should possess related to pharmacy informatics. Despite ACPE requirements,3 work remains to be done before colleges and schools of pharmacy fully incorporate pharmacy informatics content into their curricula.9,10 This last paper frames pharmacy informatics content in the context of the medication use process and includes specific readings, learning activities, and resources to assist pharmacy programs to incorporate informatics into their programs.11 Through the inclusion of a broad set of contemporary topics, this supplement is intended to help colleges and schools of pharmacy prepare for the future. This future will include information technology and pharmacy informatics as important components of pharmacy education.

Automated Intravenous Preparation : Robots for the Pharmacy

What constitutes a bonafide pharmacist–patient relationship? In the past, such a relationship required a series of face-to-face meetings between a patient and a pharmacist. The first change to this paradigm occurred with the development and acceptance of and eventual reimbursement for telepharmacy

Establishing and Maintaining a Satellite Campus Connected by Synchronous Video Conferencing

This month we address an emerging technology that we believe will one day be as common as automated dispensing cabinets. Automated, robotic intravenous preparation is not as new to the area of pharmacy as many may think. Recently, United States Pharmacopeia <797> regulations prompted serious consideration and evaluation of this technology by many pharmacy departments. This article provides an overview of the vendors, their products, and other considerations for your due diligence.

Electronic prescribing of controlled substances

Pharmacy education has experienced substantial growth in the number of new schools and existing schools establishing satellite campuses. Several models have previously been used to connect primary and satellite campuses. We describe the Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacys (AUHSOPs) experiences using synchronous video conferencing between the Auburn University campus in Auburn and a satellite campus in Mobile, Alabama. We focus on the technology considerations related to planning, construction, implementation, and continued use of the various resources that support our program. Students’ perceptions of their experiences related to technology also are described.

Health information technology: are we aware and engaged?

Electronic creation and processing of prescriptions (e-prescribing) is attractive for a number of reasons, including convenience for the prescriber, patient, and pharmacist. Other benefits include the ability to provide clinical-decision-support tools and prescription-benefit information; the