Writing Open Source Medical and Nursing Apps? 45
SteamedPenguin asks: "I am writing a Fick Cardiac Index calculator. It isn't quite finished, but it is almost done. I am bitten by the bug. Writing software, even simple software, in the health care field is fun. I see a good number of Slashdot readers who are either health care practitioners, or claim to be, so I am curious if there are are other nursing and medical tools out there that are written using Open Source languages, and/or are Open Source themselves. Google gives a good number. I am specifically interested in Open Source applications though. I am also interested to hear from people who are writing such software. Can these applications be released under the GPL? Are the algorithms proprietary? What resources are there for people who want to implement these small helper applications?"
Sigh (Score:2)
Re:Sigh (Score:3, Informative)
And yes, there certainly is such a thing as an "Open Source Language" (Perl) and a non-open source language (C#).
Linux Medicine How-to (Score:5, Informative)
It can be read at Linux Medicine How-to [tldp.org]
Comments are appreciated
Re:Linux Medicine How-to (Score:2, Insightful)
Cool, a colleague has been asking about something like this. How about links to the tar ball? Or cross links between the one-chapter-per-page version and the the monolithic version?
My work style may change again, but for right now having a monolithic version for easy download is a big bonus. Not much use getting on the train, boat, airplane and discovering that I only got a portion of the material and probably won't make time l
OpenEMR (Score:5, Informative)
It is a OpenSource ( I couldn't find the license, but probably its GPL'd) Electronic Medical Record system. It looks great, I will probably be demoing it for some Doctors in the near future. ( once I get some time to install it myself, check the code etc... )
from the site: www.openemr.net [openemr.net]
OpenEMR is a Free, Open Source medical clinic practice management and electronic medical record application. OpenEMR offers
Re:OpenEMR (Score:2)
Do you care to elaborate?
HIPAA compliance is really not something that can be said about software. It can be non-compliant (ie, no user tracking, no admin logs, etc..) but the implementation is beyond software capabilities (generally, unless it's using biometric devices to verify users). So a office may be HIPAA compliant or not regardless of whether they use this software.
Re:OpenEMR (Score:1)
If anyone knows anything about complience I would be interested.
Re:OpenEMR (Score:2)
HIPAA has three sections: Transactions, Privacy, and Security. I'm more familiar with the Privacy and Security regs than Tra
Freemed (Score:5, Informative)
advice (Score:2)
Just making sure...
DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:5, Informative)
If you don't know what 21CFR-11, validation, ER/ES etc are, then you should not be doing this.
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2, Insightful)
Most importantly though: a Cardiac Index can be calculated by hand or by using a pocket calculator. Does the FDA regulate pocket calculator outputs in hospitals?
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:1, Informative)
If the doctor makes a math error in doing the calculation, it's their responsibility. If they trust your tool not to make math errors, it's yours. If you don't do thorough testing and documentation, distribute your app at your own risk.
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:3, Informative)
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:1)
You say the FDA would regulate pocket calculator output. Ok fair enough, I'll bite. Calculators are used on a daily basis for clinical data submission. Tabulating I&Os, figuring out dosages, etc.
What about PDAs? Are they to be regulated as well?
What about the choice of software you use in your computer systems? Some hospitals use Windows in a clinical setting. As an insecure
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2)
sure, we use windows, but we validate it right down to the little rubber feet on the bottom of the PC. exact patch levels, precise build instructions with no permitted deviations...
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:1)
Not to be pedantic, but I believe that the phrase used to describe hurriedly putting something together is "knock out".
Although, I'm certain that there is quite a bit of knocking-up done in back room medical settings...
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:3, Insightful)
I work for a pharma company and I do know CFR 21 Part 11, and you are wrong.
Developers can write anything they want, it's the implementation that must be validated. If a company says their software is CFR 21 Part 11 certified, they are lying. If you write software for a regulated industry, you won't be sued or shut down no matter how crappy it is. The company that implemented and used your software won't be so lucky, but it's up to them to perform the needed due diligence, not the SW dev.
No
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2)
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2)
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2)
if the developer *couldn't* show this level of assured quality - say they don't use any version control or make any alterations
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2)
Yup, and we often reject critical security patches as too much trouble to apply and re-validate.A convoluted change management process means less work for me also, because the paperwork is so daunting, most users give up and work around the existing bug or mis-configuration. Seems kind of silly and conter-productive, but I would rather do silly for a salary, than elegant for the unemployed.
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2)
currently wading through a stack of paper around 3 feet high to prepare our preprod boxes for user acceptance testing, and it's *hell*. still, as you say, it pays the mortgage.
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:2)
I must continually fight the temptation to include stuff like a page that says "This page intentionally left blank to see if anyone ever reads this stuff" or "Help, I'm trapped in this printer b
Re:DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU'RE DOING IT PROPERLY (Score:1)
Um... (Score:3, Insightful)
If your server goes down, the tool is completely useless.
If, OTOH, you had used Javascript to process all this locally, then the webpage could be kept on a local machine and have the results immediately instead of having to load a second page.
As far as your program goes, you need to label the text boxes with the units measurements.
Re:Um... (Score:1)
From the site: "The formula for calculating the Fick Cardiac Index is: BSA / (1.36 * Hgb * (Oxy. Sat. - Oxy Hemoglobin))"
This program could be implemented in just about any language in an hour by someone who is reading their first programming language book. Less for most programmers. And for VB programmers, maybe 5 minutes with a slick UI to boot.
Re:Um... (Score:2)
Reading comprehension...it's a good thing.
Because I like PHP was: Um... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Because I like PHP was: Um... (Score:1)
Re:Because I like PHP was: Um... (Score:1)
Java is only marginally better, neither Java nor Flash are Open Source and as such I don't care to learn them unless I specifically get paid for it.
More importantly though, I don't know if hospital terminals have Java support or Flash support. In any case, I do not consider it acceptable that terminals that are supposed to be secure have secondary software installed just for a small application lik
Re:Because I like PHP was: Um... (Score:2)
Sounds like you need to check out OpenSWF [openswf.org], Kaffe [kaffe.org], SableVM [sablevm.org], GNU Classpath [gnu.org], GCJ [gnu.org], etc etc.
Re:Because I like PHP was: Um... (Score:1)
Re:Um... (Score:3, Informative)
The less you need to transmit Electronic Personally-identifiable Healthcare Information, the simpler your security problem will be.
Storing ePHI on the local machines raises all sorts of complications regarding physical security of (and data destruction upon) the point-of-use devices that are a real pain in the arse. If the end user gets the ePHI through a browser, it's a much simpler matt
linux med news (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.linuxmednews.com/
open Source Health (Score:4, Informative)
Open source has some amazing examples in the medical field.
"Vista" is the system used to run a couple of hundred hopsitals - particularly the veteran's administration. It's open source (public domain), and nowadays can run on a completely open-source (GPL) stack, as well.
Or there's Care 2000 (probably Care 2k by now) which runs a few European hospitals.
Debian has a sub-distribution for Medical software (debian-med) which includes more "focused" stuff.
And, as someone else points out, linuxmednews will give you regular gossip for the sector.
Be happy! Be healthy!
What about freshmeat? (Score:2, Informative)
http://freshmeat.net/browse/266/ [freshmeat.net]
Medical Manager (Score:3, Interesting)
As far as F/OSS software itself, dunno. Like others have posted, there is TONS of testing to do when someones life or lab results are on the line.
Linux-Medicine-HOWTO Lists Almost All Apps (Score:2)
Be careful!! (Score:2)
Replacing LyTEC (Score:2)
-Hack