ANZCA and Trainee Logbooks

Posted on February 4, 2012 by in Anaesthesia, Anesthesia, Uncategorized, Vaper

ANZCA’s recent December 2011 Bulletin has further confirmation that all trainees on Australasian Anaesthetic Training Schemes will be required to keep a logbook of their cases from 2013, as part of the College’s new revised curriculum.

Trainees will be required to keep both quality and quantity data to meet ‘Volume of Practice’ requirements under the new curriculum.

Vaper Pty has been producing electronic logbooks since 2005 – initially for PalmOS handhelds and, more recently, for Apple’s iOS platform (iPhones, iPod Touch and iPad).

The logbooks are designed to be used while you work – so there’s no need to plough through hundreds of stickers and scribbled notes at the end of the day.

And the automatic reporting – on almost every aspect of your performance – is just a few touches away.

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Vaper 2.0: a roundup

Posted on January 21, 2012 by in Anaesthesia, Anesthesia, Vaper

It’s now been 3 months since the release of Vaper 2.0 so it seems like a good time for a roundup of what’s been happening.

The latest release has been taken up avidly with the app now rising into the top 50 medical paid apps on the App Store.  Thank-you all for the extremely positive reviews and ratings (currently sitting at 4.5 stars).

Thanks also for the excellent feedback for modifications and new features in future versions.  Your comments are all heard and put into a ‘things-to-add-to-Vaper’ spreadsheet for new releases.

There has been some confusion about the new ‘Reports’ tab.  This tab now allows you to both create and view reports from Vaper (the old version had different tabs for creating and viewing reports).  The old ‘Statistics’ tab is now incorporated within the ‘Reports’ tab – but all the old reports are still available (Reports -> Statistics).

To the old-style reports has been added an ‘Automated Report’ which neatly summarises your clinical experience.  There have been some excellent suggestions for additions to this ‘Automated Report’ which will be included in the next release.  If you would like to make suggestions for the ‘Automated Report’, please let us know.

Another change has been that the reports are now been produced in HTML format.  This allows the report to be opened by more programmes (browsers, spreadsheets, text-editors, html editors, web-page editors) on more platforms (Mac, Windows, Unix, Linux).

Unfortunately, Apple’s ‘Numbers’ programme is currently unable to open HTML documents.  If you are a Mac user and don’t have Office, there is an easy workaround.  If this is a major hassle, the old-style report can be reintroduced in future versions so feel free to let us know.

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Vaper 2.0: Nine top new features

Posted on October 21, 2011 by in Anaesthesia, Anesthesia, Apple, Uncategorized

It’s been a fair while since the last update to Vaper (April 2011) but there have been some exciting new developments and features added to the programme.  Although there have been many additions and improvements, here is a quick walk through of the top nine features added to Vaper 2.0.  Make sure to backup your database before upgrading.

  1. Passcode protection

    Set a passcode that protects your sensitive patient data from prying eyes.  see video…

  2. Automated reporting

    Enter your personal details and select the dates that you want to analyse. Or choose to analyse your whole logbook. Touch one button and – hey presto – Vaper generates a complete report of your practice activity. The report can be viewed on your device or easily sent by email and can be viewed by any browser or a suitable spreadsheet programme (like Excel).  see video… 

  3. Patient history

    You can now quickly enter important points of your patient’s history – neatly divided into Cardiac, Respiratory, Medications and Other. Once patient history has been entered, see a summary of all important features with a single touch.  see video…

  4. Improved user lists

    We have been listening to your feedback. Now you can link a speciality to surgeons and the procedures they perform. Then, when you choose a speciality, only the surgeons and procedures linked to that speciality appear – making it easy and quick to make the appropriate choice.  see video…

  5. Better bookmarks

    Not only do the bookmarks look better, they perform better too. In addition to bookmarking a case, simply double-tap on the bookmark to choose why you want to remember it. Perhaps it was an interesting case, or a complication for follow-up. A number on the bookmark indicates how many reasons you had for remembering the case.  see video…

  6. Searching

    A new Search tab allows you to search for names, medical record numbers or notes that you’ve entered about a case.

  7. Faster age entry

    Don’t want to enter the date of birth? You no longer have to. Simply enter the age by entering a number and choosing ‘Days’, ‘Months’ or ‘Years’. Vaper will still analyse the age in its automated reports.

  8. Telephone calling

    If your device is capable of making telephone calls and you have recorded a telephone number for your patient, just tap on the telephone icon to automatically initiate a call.

  9. Improved UI

    Many tweaks and improvements to the user interface make Vaper the easiest, most intuitive logbook programme out there.
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Vaper: finding and backing up your database

Posted on October 20, 2011 by in General, Tips

Even though your patient records are backed up to your PC every time you ‘sync’ to iTunes, you weren’t able to easily see the database file (as it was encrypted and stored within iTunes’ own backup system).

Until now.  From Vaper 1.1.6 onwards, you can now access your database file:

Connect your iPhone to your PC/iTunes and sync.  Then:
  1. Single click your iPhone, under ‘Devices’ in the iTunes window
  2. Select ‘Apps’ on the menu towards the top of the iTunes window
  3. Select ‘Vaper’ under Apps towards the bottom of the iTunes window
  4. Your database is in the ‘Vaper Documents’ window
You can now drag the database from the ‘Vaper Documents’ window and store it in a safe place on your computer.  This file can be reloaded on any other iOS device that has Vaper installed on it.  Or just store it for extra security.
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A long time between drinks?

Posted on September 2, 2011 by in Anaesthesia, Anesthesia, General, Uncategorized

Well, it’s been a long time between blog posts but a fair bit of water has flown under my personal bridge.

On 31st July, I had a fall (BAC 0.00 in case anyone was wondering) and fractured my first cervical vertebra (C1) with instability of C1 on C2.  In layman’s terms: broken and unstable neck.  In non-layman’s terms: an unstable Jefferson burst fracture.

After several weeks under the expert care of the Royal Adelaide Hospital Spinal Unit (I cannot praise highly enough the professionalism, dedication and compassion of all the staff I encountered there) and with the extraordinary love and resilience of my amazing wife, children, extended family and ever-helpful friends, I have emerged relatively unscathed: alive, with no neurological deficit and thankful for the precious and sometimes precarious gift of life.

A little more Lurch-like in appearance, with a halo pinned into my skull for at least the next 3 months, I am back at the keyboard planning updates to apps.

Thanks for all your patience and support over the last few weeks: as a small token of appreciation, all the app prices are down for September.

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Thanks for all your support… but there’s one more thing…

Posted on June 25, 2011 by in Anaesthesia, Anesthesia, General, Uncategorized

With the latest release of Pocket MBS currently sitting at #1 in the ‘What’s Hot’ for Medical iPad Apps, it might be time to sit back (just for a short time) and reflect on the success of the current offerings:

Pocket MBS has been consistently in the top 100 Medical Apps ever since its first release in June 2009.  The recent update to a ‘universal’ app – meaning that it now also works for iPad with some cool new features – has meant that Pocket MBS has spent most of the last month in the top 25 Medical Apps for iPad.  A new (free) update for the July 2011 updated schedule is ready in the wings.

Pocket RVG has been consistently in the top 150 Medical Apps since its initial release in July 2009.  It has been kept constant.y up to date with the changing RVG schedules and new cool calculators have been added along the way.  As for Pocket MBS, a new update will be available imminently.

Vaper, an electronic logbook for Anaesthetists, has been consistently a top 200 Medical Apps performer since its release in May 2009.  A major update is currently under development and will include many of the cool features you all have been requesting.  An update is a little further away, but development is making good progress.

Bubbling along in the background has been a major software development to provide integrated Anaesthesia Practice Booking and Billing.  While details are, obviously, secret at the moment, this project will provide some really cool features for both Anaesthetists and their staff to make running a practice easier and more clinically relevant.  Watch this space for developments.  Or, drop us a line and we will keep you informed.

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Four Corners, DePuy and Articular Surface Replacement hips

Posted on May 20, 2011 by in General

If you didn’t see the Four Corners story on ABC television about Articular Surface Replacement hips, now would be a good time to catch it.  Still available on iView , it offers a patient’s eye view of the suffering involved when DePuy ASR hips fail.

Firmly in the crosshairs are DePuy (read the excellent questions submitted by Quentin McDermott to the prosthetics company – questions that were sadly left unanswered), the TGA (read their press release) and a prominent Adelaide orthopod (involved in both the design and subsequent use of the DePuy ASR prostheses).

DePuy was obliged to release information about payments to other surgeons involved in design of the ASR prostheses and is now embroiled in a cluster of ever-increasing lawsuits.

A media statement issued by SportsMed (the facility where the prominent orthopod worked prior to his resignation in 2010) makes interesting reading.  The implications of their statement  ” SPORTSMED·SA Hospital is currently arranging an independent review of Dr Oakeshott’s DePuy ASR hip implant study data” are ominous.

Fellow Medics: Beware not only the Ides of March but also Conflict of Interest.

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Hands up, all those still using Thiopentone …

Posted on March 11, 2011 by in Drugs, General

The story so far…

Hospira – currently the only registered marketer and supplier of Sodium Thiopentone in Australia – stopped making its version, “Pentothal“, at its US plant because of an unspecified raw material supply problem.

When Hospira attempted to move production of Pentothal to a factory in Italy, authorities there demanded guarantees from Hospira that any Pentothal produced would not end up in the hands of executioners for the purposes of capital punishment.  (Approximately 35 states in the US use Thiopentone as a component of the drugs used to carry out death row executions).

The implication was that if Hospira was unable to control Italian-made Pentothal to the ultimate end-user, the drug company would be held liable for any use of the drug in capital-punishment cases.

Hospira has periodically outlined its unhappiness with the use of its drugs for executions:

Hospira provides these products because they improve or save lives and markets them solely for use as indicated on the product labeling.  As such, we do not support the use of any of our products in capital punishment procedures.

Kees Groenhout, clinical research and development vice president.

With us so far?

Hospira has now decided to exit the Pentothal market:

Given the issues surrounding the product, including the government’s requirements and challenges bringing the drug back to market, Hospira has decided to exit the market. We regret that issues outside of our control forced Hospira’s decision to exit the market, and that our many hospital customers who use the drug for its well-established medical benefits will not be able to obtain the product from Hospira.

leaving Australia with no currently registered supplier of Thiopentone.

Here’s hoping that prisons in the US don’t start using Propofol for lethal injections any time soon.

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iPad2: harder, faster, leaner, meaner

Posted on March 3, 2011 by in Apple

So the Steve Jobs’ reality-distortion-field has lifted and through the haze is visible the next-generation iPad.  Did the revelations at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Franscisco, satiate our longing for a new iDevice?

What’s in: harder, faster, thinner, lighter, cameras, gyroscopes, HDMI out, magnetic covers, a bunch of new software

What’s not: USB, memory cards ports, cooler display

All-in-all, more of an evolution than a revolution, but iPad2 is well positioned to face the onslaught of tablet computers expected for the next 6 months.

What do you think?

 

Will you buy an iPad2 in the next 12 months?

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“The worst drug in history”?

Posted on February 28, 2011 by in Drugs, General

I was manufactured by Eli Lilly and first approved for release in the 1950′s.

I have been used millions of times by millions of patients all over the world.

I was withdrawn in the United Kingdom in 2007 because of concerns about increased risk of death in accidental or intentional overdose - even with small numbers of tablets - and am no longer available for prescription to new patients.

I was taken off the market in Europe in 2009 due to concerns about fatal overdoses.

I was also taken off the market in New Zealand in 2010, again due to concerns about my toxicity.

In 2010, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that I would be withdrawn from the US market because of problems with serious cardiac toxicity, even at therapeutic doses.

I was described as:

“among the worst drugs in history…. addictive, not very effective and toxic”

by the President of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

But I am still available in Australia.

 

Who am I?

 

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