Electronic Health Reporter

By Helena Bogdanova, a tech journalist with OCSICO. She covers tech news on IoT, mobile applications, healthcare and custom software development.

What does it take to release a new medication or medical device? We buy simple meds for flu, never wondering how many resources have been spent and people involved so that these small pieces could appear in our hands. An army of healthcare professionals conducts researches and clinical trials to produce safe and effective medications or medical equipment.

Clinical trials imply large amount of data that has to be documented: test and monitoring results, information about alleged dosage, the effect a new drug is expected to produce and so on. All the information is of great importance and must be carefully systematized and stored with the opportunity to be used for new or additional research after a medication or device has entered the market.

Data sharing problem

In the age of IT, most of the researchers prefer electronic documents to paper ones. It significantly accelerates the workflow as there is no need in digging in paper piles to find a necessary file.

Electronic information can be easily sent via e-mail to a colleague or uploaded to the cloud and become accessible to all authorized users. This is faster than dealing with traditional paper documents, but still isn’t quick enough. Users have to open an application each time again if it doesn’t have “always on top” feature or click on an e-mail box to check for new letters. Being very busy, researchers can’t do this right away, slowing down the workflow. Thanks to built-in reminders, a document management system can make the process of data sharing much more dynamic.

The way out

Companies that provide clinical trial research services are challenged to make the information exchange process more convenient to their employees and customers. For this purpose, they turn to the specialists in the healthcare software development services to create a  smart and user-friendly document management system.

Hints for developers

1. The easier the better

Functionality first! Too colorful UI design isn’t the right solution for a medical document management system. Convenience, quick access to information and fast data sharing — these are the aspects to focus on. Too many small elements and bright colors are likely to confuse and distract a user. Look at the colors of some already existing medical web portals or software: catchy but not annoying.

2.        Ensure close cooperation

Finding a common language with a customer isn’t always an easy task. IT specialists have to build up close communication with each client to understand what kind of system is needed. A thought-out software requirements specification, flowing from thoroughly documented client’s expectations, serves as the basis of the effective solution development process.

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