The NOSH ChartingSystem v1.0 was released on October 5th available for download via Launchpad at https://launchpad.net/~shihjay2. More details about the project are available at http://noshemr.wordpress.com.
What is your mission?
Help medical providers have access to an intuitive, world-class electronic health record for minimal cost.
Who makes the NOSH ChartingSystem?
NOSH (New Open Source Health) ChartingSystem was developed by Michael Chen, MD; a family physician in Portland, Oregon.
What is NOSH ChartingSystem about?
Equal opportunity – Just as I believe that every medical provider needs a low-cost pen to write with, NOSH ChartingSystem is about giving medical providers an equal chance of getting an easy-to-use, robust, world-class electronic health record system.
The doctor comes first – NOSH ChartingSystem is about making the medical provider the priority of how the system works. It starts by designing a user interface that makes sense to them (as opposed to the way an administrator, insurance company, or biller thinks). After all, the medical provider provides their services to the patient!
Paying it forward – NOSH ChartingSystem is about open-ness and sharing with one another. One of the benefits of being open-source is that the improvements and modifications made over time is shared back to all existing users. We all share in making NOSH ChartingSystem the best electronic health record system on the planet.
Versatility and choice – NOSH ChartingSystem is all about choice. It can be installed on a variety of server systems (but the best is Linux because of security and cost of maintenance). The server can be a standalone computer or it can be installed in the cloud. Once installed NOSH ChartingSystem can be used by a any computer system (Windows, Mac, or Linux) as long as there is a network connection and a web browser (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari are recommended, however).
Quality – NOSH ChartingSystem is built off of quality software compenents that have been used on the largest, proven, and most trusted internet service providers on the planet, such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Adobe. The components I use are not a mystery (as most other electronic health record systems like to make you believe in their products).
What is the history behind NOSH ChartingSystem?
After years of tinkering with other electronic medical record systems, I ran into constant limitations in most electronic medical record systems in an outpatient, clinical setting. Most times, it was the clumsy interface and lack of intuitiveness for the typical workflow for a doctor that got to me. I did not like having any EMR dictate how I how I should do my work and interface with patients. Having spent enough time tinkering around to make existing systems fit me, I decided to switch my efforts into building a new, modern EMR from scratch. NOSH ChartingSystem is meant to be fast, modular, and most important of all – intuitive and user friendly for the physician.
How do I know it works?
Although this may be a selfish promotion on my part, I can say I was the first user of the system and I used it in a real-live working environment in a solo family physician office with no other ancillary staff (nurses, billers, or medical assistants) for over 2 years. If I can be super-efficient for myself with NOSH ChartingSystem, imagine how it can be super-efficient for a group practice! The greatest compliment of my system was when my patients told me that they didn’t even know I was using an electronic health record system during a visit. Why was that? I was using a system that was so intuitive that I didn’t have to focus on the computer screen to enter my information. The information input flowed seamlessly while I saw the patient. I was not restricted in my way of communicating to a patient because of a poorly designed system. In essence, the greatest compliment for me would be that NOSH ChartingSystem helped doctors be doctors again.
How do I start using it? There are 2 ways to do this:
- The good way:
If you are comfortable in using a computer and
You or your organization already have a computer server (cloud or your own) you have designated and
You or your organization is willing to maintain on your own computer server and
You know how to use and install an awesome open source operating system, specifically Ubuntu Linux,
Then you can add this PPA (link not yet ready, coming in the end of September) into your repositories.
Install the “nosh-cs” package.
Go to your web browser and type in: “http://localhost/nosh”, and the installation program will then begin!
After installation, set up your clinic information (users, schedule, preferences) as an administrative user, save it, and
Then you can use NOSH ChartingSystem right away. - The best way:
For most medical providers, the best way is to contact me. I know that your medical practice is busy and the leap to a new electronic health record system, whether you never had one or you’re wanting to ditch the one you currently have, is a big leap of faith. I can make that leap more realistic and do-able by working with you. Set up a time so that I can meet with you and your organization and for a reasonable fee, this is what I will do:Getting to know you:I will identify existing office procedures, workflow, and process.
I will identify existing computer hardware and software.
I will identify your needs and your wishes.
Provide a summary of recommendations and how to implement NOSH ChartingSystem in the most efficient and least impactful way possible.
Working with you:I will find ways to make NOSH ChartingSystem work for you.
I believe that NOSH ChartingSystem has the basic foundations for intuitive use more than any other electronic health record out there. I also know that one system doesn’t fit all. NOSH ChartingSystem, from the ground up, was programmed so that it can be easily modified and adjusted to your needs. In return, the modifications (I like to call them “improvements”) go back to every other future and existing user, if they want it, so we all share in the benefits.
Based on the chosen recommendations by you, I can implement (installation and setup) the NOSH ChartingSystem for your organization.
Credits:
In honesty, I can’t take full credit for the entire system. In the spirit of open source, my work would not be possible without the contribution of hours and hours of computer programmers who did their part in developing excellent tools and frameworks that went into NOSH ChartingSystem.
- Server stack basis: Linux, Apache web server, MySQL, PHP (LAMP)
- Database: MySQL 5.0
- PHP framework: Codeigniter
- Javascript framework: JQuery
- Javascript user interface: JQuery UI
- Calendar system: FullCalendar plug-in
- Tables and grids: jqGrid plug-in
- Comment tips: BeautyTips plug-in
- Signature capture: Signature Pad plug-in
- Graphs and charts: Highcharts