Hi Marcus, It's nothing I can take on, but I just wanted to say good luck, and if anything good comes of it, please let the list know. I find workflow improvements (that is, technically rather simple, but useful to bridge gaps in processes) to be the best place many of us can invest time in software.
Good luck, and I really hope you find the right person to help you. Lee Hambley -- http://lee.hambley.name/ +49 (0) 170 298 5667 On 22 March 2014 15:41, Marcus Baw <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi NWRUG, > > I’m a locum (freelance) GP in the Manchester area and I’m a bit of a geek > too. I’m looking for developer(s) who would be interested in an open source > project I am trying to get started. Initially this would be ‘pro bono’ or > voluntary/gratis work, but there is clear potential for it to become paid > work. > > The project I have in mind is a simple open source digital dictation > platform (NB not voice recognition). Every NHS body I have worked in > (hospitals, GP) currently uses some form of dictation to allow > doctors/other staff to dictate their clinical letters, which are then typed > (usually on site). Most of the larger orgs use digital dictation, using an > SD card recorder or USB handset. > > Technically, these systems are simply storing a digital audio file and > connecting it to some metadata (patient information etc), and then some of > them also manage the workflows associated with the dictation -e.g. > allocation of dictations to a ‘pool’ of typists, etc. They are > *very*expensive for what they do (think £1000 pa for a GP surgery, and tens of > thousands p.a. for hospitals) and are functionally poor. Because some > organisations are very very small they can’t find the funds to get these > services and so some are still using analogue tape (yes really), which > would be fine I suppose except the cost of replacing hardware is getting > extortionate (£500 for a new pedal-operated transcription machine) > > Problems of the current systems: > > - expensive, far more than one would expect for the degree of > complexity of the software > - closed and proprietary > - often some degree of hardware lock in or contracting bundle meaning > handsets have to be bought with software > - no ‘notifications’ functionality (e.g. As A Doctor I get > notifications when my dictation has been done, As A Secretary I get a > notification when there are dictations for me to type… etc) > - no ‘failsafe/trackback’ functionality (e.g. I get a notification if > my dictation hasn’t been done in the next X days) - bearing in mind the > potential consequences of a ‘lost’ dictation I cannot believe these > features don’t exist > - No audit trail accessible by ordinary users (e.g. As A Consultant In > A Hospital I might want to see why there is a long delay in my letters > being sent out) - I could interrogate the ‘log file’ for a given dictation > task and see where the hangups are. > > > I think there is a definite opportunity to fix several of these problems > by developing a simple open source digital dictation system, which would > lower the bar to entry to small organisations. The free ‘community’ version > could be run on local server by small orgs with the knowhow, but I had > envisaged also eventually offering dictation management as a SaaS platform > with a kind of freemium pricing scale, hosted within the NHS National > Network (N3). [I am medical director of Tactix4 (www.tactix4.com) who are > a London-based company doing similar things with other types of open source > software in the NHS and they have a data centre within the N3 - so some of > the more obvious hurdles such as N3 overheads are already cleared.] > > I have a Community Interest Company set up (www.opengpsoc.org) which > currently houses open source code for a variety of projects, functioning as > code custodian. > > I have been hacking away at bits of the problem in Rails but haven’t got > very far, and to be honest I’m not sure whether any of my code past > <code>rails new …</code> would be much use. I am pretty expert in the > use-case and domain however, have contacts++, access to N3 hosting, and I > can write features in Gherkin (this is one of my paid jobs) so maybe > writing the actual code isn’t my best role in the project. > > I had been hoping to get down to a NWRUG meeting but haven’t been able to > because of work commitments, so I thought I’d get the ball rolling with an > email instead. > > Anyone interested please contact me at [email protected] > for context my website is www.bawmedical.co.uk > me on twitter @marcus_baw > the existing code, for what it’s worth: > https://github.com/pacharanero/sakebu - note I am in the (very early > stages of the) process of refactoring into Rails 4 - so the ‘active’ > development is on the ‘refactor’ branch. > > Marcus > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "NWRUG" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nwrug-members. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NWRUG" group. 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