Looking for iOS programmer for an actual paramedic approved epcr.

[Down party]

Hi guys,

Little background on me, I'm a medic for a very busy service in Denver for several years. Like most of us I've been frustrated with this so called "ePCR" that has caused us all to have to deal with the slow computers, bad user interfaces, and the data collection for the sake of data collection.

At this point I have put plenty of hours in designing a faster and more user friendly ePCR that wasn't made by a software engineer that's never ran a call in his life. However well I think it looks on paper I still need it designed.

I am looking for programmer or two to help build this gentle giant. It will be iPad based so obviously experience with coding is a must. I ask here because I think it's important for the software to be built by the actual users.

If this sounds remotely interesting shoot me a PM as I'm not entirely sure I can put my email up here.

Thanks and be safe,

Down Party

 

[ffemt8978]

If this sounds remotely interesting shoot me a PM as I'm not entirely sure I can put my email up here.

Thanks and be safe,

Down Party

No, you can't post your email address or any other method of contact in a post.

 

[RocketMedic]

It sounds like an idea waiting to make money, Zolls iPCR is hard to use.

 

[Christopher]

At this point I have put plenty of hours in designing a faster and more user friendly ePCR that wasn't made by a software engineer that's never ran a call in his life. However well I think it looks on paper I still need it designed.

Hey! I (partially) resemble that remark!

You know why the current ePCR software isn't natural? Because EMT's and Paramedics do a poor job of communicating requirements to software engineers. I see this every day in the nuclear industry; nuclear engineers do a poor job of communicating requirements.

As a lead software engineer of 10+ years and an in the flesh paramedic:

(1) A paramedic with programming experience will not help. Everybody thinks they are a programmer but software engineering is a discipline because it is really hard to do.

(2) You really do want a software engineer, you just need to communicate with them early and often.

(3) A lot of why current ePCR solutions suck is their reliance on NEMSIS Gold as the benchmark for their application. This will hamstring your product in terms of flexibility. NEMSIS support needs to be factored in up front as it has huge effects on your downstream design and architecture.

What you need to do first:

(1) Define your Use Cases. Diagram how you'd like the chart to flow. Is this going to be an On The Fly solution while on the call? Or is this going to be an After The Fact solution?

(2) Get a diverse stakeholder group together to define your CTQ's (Critical To Quality). I hate electronic charting during the call, very very inefficient use of my time. I hate working on tablets. You need folks like this to give input early.

(3) Once you're good and ready you'll seriously need to do a patent search. emsCharts declared bankruptcy due to some software patents that bit them in the ***. Unfortunately software patents are here to stay because lawyers who have no idea how computers work (they believe them to be toasters) got to write the patent law. And worse, judges who wouldn't know a bit from a byte (let alone how many bits are in a byte?) interpret these laws...

If you can knock out the Use Cases and get your goals from stakeholders, you'll have a better time communicating with software engineers who can produce you an actual product rather than a programmer who'll fiddle around and get you a pet project (which is fine up front, prototype early and often).

 

[NomadicMedic]

I believe that 25+ states are now using image trend as their statewide ePCR. I know that part of the clunkiness is a matter of keeping the data NEMSIS compliant. Good luck with your project!

 

[Down party]

Thanks for the input guys.

I've been working on the pen and paper versions for a couple months. Time spent on charting is being cut down drastically. Christopher, maybe the reason you hate charting while at the patients side is because you haven't used one that does actually flow. I know I sure haven't.

In general there is no reason we can't use technology to our benefit for once. And as for Zoll's iPCR, you have to enter info on one piece of hardware, then finish it on another. The iPad straight out of the box is better hardware than anything else especially for the price and ease of use. To train on an iPad you hand it to someone.

Alas I am sitting here with my pencil and paper continuing to knock seconds off each screen, and deciding which NEMSIS fields are actually going to be built into the pcr. NEMSIS gives the Brass the ability to collect every bit of data under the sun but most of it is also able to be "N/A". I'm going to be collecting better data, not just more data.

Maybe I should start a thread elsewhere for a simple discussion regarding a more user friendly iOS based pcr?

 

[MrJones]

I don't want much. Just give me a solution that will automatically, wirelessly and reliably capture and populate to the appropriate ePCR locations monitor data (NBP, Pulse, SPO2, Capnography, ECG).

 

[Down party]

Christopher,

What do you mean by software patents specifically? Any more info on the subject?

 

[Christopher]

Christopher,

What do you mean by software patents specifically? Any more info on the subject?

Sure, a number of companies (probably ESO and ImageTrend, if I were to guess) have patented various parts of their ePCR systems. emsCharts was sued and declared bankruptcy to protect themselves over one or more of these patents from an unnamed competitor.

If you have no plans to commercialize your product, you *might* be Ok.

 

[Aidey]

I just want to pop in to add that tablet charting sucks, period. The only way to make it acceptable would be to forcibly disable the touchscreen keyboard, and require a physical keyboard be used with the program. It is beyond asinine to expect someone to write a soap note on a touch screen keyboard.

 

[NomadicMedic]

I find the beat way to write my SOAP is to narrate into my iPhone and paste into the ePCR.

 

[Down party]

That would actually be built in to the Narrative section. Perks of an iPad. The build has started and feedback has been great.