Pharmacy Informatics
James A Haley VA
Last Update:1/23/2008
Over View
Students taking the pharmacy informatics rotation will be exposed to a wide spectrum of informatics related activities. These will include, but are not limited to:
- Basic Understanding of web authoring using HTML
- Designing web pages
- Using the Internet for knowledge acquisition
- Designing Data Warehouses for health care
- Data mining and the use of Data mining tools.
- Pharmacy Robotics
- Pharmacy systems and automation
- Tele-pharmacy techniques and equipment
- Hospital Information Systems
- The use of Blogs and Forums for information dissemination
Web Design
Informatics has been associated with knowledge dissemination, and there is no better way to spread knowledge than via the Internet. As a result, students are instructed in basic web design concepts. This includes learning the basics of HTML authoring and some browser fundamentals. It does NOT require expertise in computers, per se, and the level of sophistication is no more than that which would be required to use a word processor.
Students will be expected to use web based instruction to lean how to write web pages. It must be stressed that writing a web page is not considered programing and students should not refer to writing web pages as "HTML Programming".
Sites which include basic information on authoring web pages include:NCSA site
htmlPrimer.com
Bare Bones
It is not necessary for the student to be familiar with these sites prior to starting the rotation, but it certainly would help to be familiar with some of the concepts. Students will be given a web based project and are involved with maintaining this site, as well as the companion, pharmasyst site.
In addition to learning how to write web pages, using HTML, students will also review some fundamentals of web design. This include learning to avoid the excessive use of "eye candy" and designing for maximum utility, i.e. reaching the widest audience.
Internet History and Use
Just as Drug Information is not Informatics, The World Wide Web is not the internet. Unfortunately, the only exposure many students have to the internet is via the World Wide Web. Students are exposed to a brief history of the internet and explore the use of some of its components, such as:- FTP
- usenet
- internet relay chat (IRC)
This includes where to find and install many useful programs for using the internet. It also includes the use of various search engines. As with web design, much of the learning will be internet, not just world wide web, based. The students will be expected to use at least a web based news system, and post to a Newsgroup, such as sci.med.pharmacy.
Some sites which discuss the history of the internet include:Dave's site
Internet History
As with HTML authoring, it is not necessary for the student to be familiar with internet history prior to starting the rotation. However, it would be to the students advantage to know some of the key points.
Knowledge Discovery
One of the most beneficial things to come out of the internet was the ability to rapidly "discover new knowledge". Students will be tasked with answering questions using only information gathered from the internet. This can include traditional sources, such as Medline and Micromedex, and non-traditional sources such as internet search engines.
The student will be given questions which must be answered in a relatively short time frame. These can include, but are not limited to, drug information questions. The student will also be taught how to validate information from non-traditional sources. Questions in the past have included:
- What is the conversion factor to switch a patient from thyroid extract tablets to levothyroxine. Time limit = 20 minutes.
- How many grams of carbon are found in the typical human body. Time limit=10 minutes.
The intent of this approach is to teach the student not only how to rapidly find information but how best to ascertain that the information found is valid.