Rx Note

Introduction Today, I learned that an IT-savvy colleague of mine used Google Sheets as a lightweight backend and built a simple lookup web application on top of it using Google Apps Script . Discovering this potential was an eye-opener. It got me thinking about how we could leverage Apps Script internally - such as building an in-house drug formulary directory for our hospital - rather than relying on third-party no-code spreadsheet-to-app platforms like Open As App , AppSheet or Wistify . Intrigued, I decided to explore Apps Script further. At a high level, Apps Script is effectively a cloud-native equivalent to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Written in standard JavaScript, it is designed to automate workflows and route data across Google Workspace (Sheets, Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar) and external REST APIs. Crucially, it can host self-contained mini-web apps directly through its HtmlService - served via an endpoint such as https://script.google.com/macros/s/.../exec - w...

Introduction To standardize operations and ensure strict statutory compliance with the Poisons (Psychotropic Substances) Regulations 1989 and the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 , the Ministry of Health Malaysia published the Garis Panduan Pengendalian Bahan Psikotropik di Fasiliti Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia in 2024. A psychotropic substance refers to any substance or compound specified in the Third Schedule of the Poisons Act 1952 . Under Regulation 3(1) of the Poisons (Psychotropic Substances) Regulations 1989, no person shall possess, supply, or administer any psychotropic substance unless explicitly authorized by law, held for an approved lawful purpose, and obtained in compliance with statutory provisions. Scope of practice by healthcare personnel Pharmacists: Authorized to possess, compound, mix, and dispense psychotropic substances upon receipt of a valid prescription (Assistant Pharmacists assist under the direct personal supervision of a pharmacist). Registered Medical Practi...

Introduction Through the issuance of the Director-General of Health (KPK) Circular No. 11/2026 , the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) has mandated the official implementation of the New Prescription Format across all MOH healthcare facilities starting 1 January 2027. This standardisation effort introduces a new format for outpatient prescription with document number Perubatan 6A - Pin. 1/26 and an inpatient prescription format with document number Perubatan 6B - Bil. 1/26. This change is driven by three key factors: Enhancing patient safety through the display of drug allergy status and body weight, Ensuring full compliance with current legal acts, and Standardising the inpatient prescription format nationwide to prevent medication errors . Outpatient Prescription Inpatient Prescription External Links Surat Pekeliling Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan Malaysia Bil. 11/2026: Format Preskripsi Di Fasiliti Kesihatan Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) Implementation of the New Prescription Fo...

Introduction Before being marketed in Malaysia, all pharmaceutical products including health supplements and traditional preparations must be registered with the Drug Control Authority . Registered products will have 2 key features. A registration number starts with "MAL" A genuine FarmaTag hologram sticker Users can check the registration status of a product through the Quest 3+ or by contacting the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency at 03-78835400. Format of MAL A valid registration number starts with "MAL", followed by 8-digit numbers and ends with an alphabet to indicate their registration category. The first 2 digits correspond to the year of registration, the next 2 digits corresponds to the month of registration and followed by 4 digits of running numbers. NOTE: Notification number is unique for each cosmetic product and its variant (if any) in the format as below: NOTyymmxxxxxK (y: year, m: month, x: serial number). Categories of Registered Prod...

Introduction A surprising trend has emerged across Threads : the sudden rise of interactive healthcare role-playing games such as WardRun , FarmasiJona , and Dentist Hero . The developers deserve credit for their execution - clear thought has gone into delivering clean visuals, intuitive mechanics, and remarkably smooth, bug-free gameplay. Balancing Gameplay with Clinical Fidelity While gamification makes hospital workflows accessible, the core challenge lies in balancing entertainment with genuine educational value for both the public and clinical learners. Public Insight: These games undoubtedly offer the public a rare window into the frantic pace and operational bottlenecks of daily ward rounds, outpatient clinics, and inpatient dispensing counters. The Clinical Knowledge Barrier: Key tasks - such as inpatient order verification, therapeutic drug monitoring, identifying drug-drug interactions, and resolving therapeutic duplications - inherently demand solid clinical training. Even...

Introduction Across many PWA projects that I have worked on (such as RxLookup , RxAlbum , RxPed , and RxQuote ), I began to recognise an unsettling pattern. While modern AI-assisted vibe coding allows you to set up the app architecture within a few days, the hardest part remains the source data that acts as the foundation and soul of the app. Even the thought of building a drug interaction database from scratch and trying to make it comprehensive felt overwhelming. Gathering and verifying thousands of individual interaction pairs would take immense effort, and in the end, it would still be nowhere near complete. Because of this, while vibe coding RxInteract , our initial plan was to outsource publicly available reference data, and one potential candidate was DDInter . However, the downloadable data only provided interaction severity scores - it lacked clinical details, underlying mechanisms, and actionable management steps. Knowing a severity number without knowing what to do with th...

Introduction Starting October 9, 2026, Google is limiting free personal Gemini accounts to the lightweight Flash-Lite model, eliminating free access to standard Flash and Pro models. Additionally, Google AI Plus subscribers are losing access to the Gemini Pro model, leaving Pro access reserved exclusively for higher-tier AI Pro and AI Ultra plans. Following the unveiling of the Gemini 4 Argon model, Google is reallocating its heavy compute power toward paying enterprise clients rather than subsidizing casual free users. Finding the Balance Between AI Token Costs and Human Effort Over the past few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has exploded in popularity. Almost every device and appliance now integrates AI features, including fridges and air conditioners. Many companies have pushed employees to leverage AI tokens for maximum productivity. Yet, despite all the hype, human input in daily tasks cannot be completely replaced. Along the way, organizations are discovering a critical rea...