Technology is grand
At the pharmacy, we are installing our first piece of automation. It is called a Smart Cabinet and it really is pretty smart. The drugs that we use the most often will be located in containers and the computer will trigger the cabinet to count the medication as soon as we enter the data for the prescription.
There are all kinds of safety features. All the stock bottles come from the wholesaler with a bar code and the cabinet makes you scan the bar code before you can load the cabinet. That way it assures that the right drug is in the right location.
Then after the drug is counted, before it will release into the prescription vial, the bar code on the prescription label has to be scanned. It is way cool!
The technology in trying to provide safe medication just keeps increasing. There are so many counterfeit drugs coming into the United States from other countries that manufacturers are making a computer chip that will embed in each stock bottle and we will be able to scan the container and tell exactly where that drug was made and every place it has been on its journey to our pharmacy.
I need one of those chips for my husband to keep track of all the places he goes while flying. I never know where he is.
I was at a conference in Boston last month and a presentation was made on counterfeit drugs and it is really scary what they have found some of them to contain. One drug had been coated with highway paint to give it the right color. Most contain little active ingredient, no active ingredient, or even one example they showed had a toxic product in it. Just imagine if terrorists started putting a cyanide pill in just one container out of every batch.
Sadly, most of those drugs coming in are coming under the guise of Canadian drugs. Six of the top 10 advertised Canadian drug sites were not even licensed pharmacies in Canada. Most were in Asia or the Bahamas. I guess that's like French fries not being from France. Only this ruse could kill someone faster then French fries.
I actually do like improvements in technology though my 53-year-old brain is slow to learn it. I also consider it a challenge for the Smart Cabinet not to out smart me. My goal is that it will eventually make life easier for me and safer for my patients.
With Thanksgiving looming next week, easier sounds good. We will be having an assortment of guests including some of Carson's friends from Tabor that live too far from home to go for the holiday. Now that I will be going to Sioux City, South Dakota, for the Tabor football game this Saturday, my preparation time will have to be in the evenings.
One dish that we have often around the holidays is cranberry chutney. We eat it as a salad and it can be made ahead and stays good for a long time in the refrigerator. Cranberry sauce is usually one of those things that grocery stores run on great specials in November and December so I stock up for the year. Now that's smart!
Cranberry Chutney
1 can (16 oz) whole berry cranberry sauce
2 oranges, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 can (16 oz) pears, drained and chopped
1 apple, unpeeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Cool. Store in refrigerator. Serve at room temperature.
Note: The fruit should be coarsely chopped into bite-size pieces.
