How to choose Medical Software
What is a medical software?
Medical software is any software item or system within a medical context that is used for diagnostic or therapeutic reasons. Also a software can be found in a medical device (know as medical device software) which presents to the medical staff how it is used or can provide control management or can produce printed health information and data.
How to select a medical software?
Before asking yourself what is the best way to select the medical software suitable for your practice, please take some time to check your workflow:
- Are you happy with the way you are now working?
- Are your employees (other doctors, nurses, secretaries) find the information they need on an easy and quick way?
- Are your medical devices interacting with your information system?
- How many times must you enter the patient’s name?
- Do you have often complains from your patients that it took longer as they thought to get their report?
If your answers are “yes” for the first 3 questions, “once” for the 4th and “no” for the 5th, you don’t have to change or buy anything else.
Find a Health Information Technology Company
If your answers deviate, it would be advisable to contact a Health Information Technology (HIT) company.
Modern HIT is focusing nowadays on fine tuning workflows within an enterprise and not any more on installing different software types to cover special needs, having no or limited interaction between them. The aim is to find the best possible and quickest way to transfer medical information and make it available on demand.
The HIT specialists are going to help you:
- Analyze your existing workflow and find ways to improve it. They are ready to integrate your existing information systems and make them interact with each other.
- Archive your medical information, reorganize your database and migrate your data to increase security.
- Communicate remotely with patients, referring physicians and colleagues to ask for their 2nd
- Decide what information to print on paper, or burn on a CD/DVD.
- Automate the report procedure using digital dictation/transcription and speech to text solutions.
As soon as you have chosen the HIT Company best suitable to your requirements, please make a last quality test: Ask them to give you an offer on a “Pay per Examination” terms. They have to give you only two numbers: One is the cost for activating the service and the second is the cost you have to pay per examination.
HIT as a Service evolved the last years to a success story, mainly because users have mainly advantages with this approach:
- Your initial investment is low
- You can easily calculate the cost you are paying for your Information Technology infrastructure per examination.
- You are paying only when you proceed an examination.
- You can stop any time the service.
- You don’t have to bother and invest for upgrades and new versions.
“You really just have to know what your practice need and what you want” so it is better to ask people in your field their opinion or seek for professional HIT advice and presentation.
For more information on medical software and health information technology, see our extended articles for healthcare units.
