Overview of the Most Important Open Source Software: Analysis of the Benefits of OpenMRS, OpenEMR, and VistA

In this chapter, the authors review software that enables the proper management of EHR. The different types of software share the feature of being open source and offer the best opportunity in health care to developing countries—an overall integrated approach. The authors analyze the main free software programs (technical features, programming languages, places for introduction, etc.). Then they focus on the description and the comparison of the three most important open source software programs EHR (OpenMRS, OpenVistA, and OpenEMR) that are installed on two operating systems (Linux Ubuntu and Windows). Finally, the authors show the results of the various parameters measured in these systems after using different Web browsers. The results show us how the three main EHR applications work depending on which operating system is installed and which web browser is used.

[1]  J. Wyatt,et al.  Evaluating computerised health information systems: hard lessons still to be learnt , 2003, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[2]  Hamish S. F. Fraser,et al.  Evaluating the impact and costs of deploying an electronic medical record system to support TB treatment in Peru , 2006, AMIA.

[3]  Eliezer Geisler,et al.  Redesigning Innovative Healthcare Operation and the Role of Knowledge Management , 2009 .

[4]  Hamish S. F. Fraser,et al.  Rapid deployment of electronic medical records for ARV rollout in rural Rwanda , 2006, AMIA.

[5]  William M. Tierney,et al.  An electronic medical record system for ambulatory care of HIV-infected patients in Kenya , 2005, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[6]  Paul G. Biondich,et al.  Cooking Up An Open Source EMR For Developing Countries: OpenMRS - A Recipe For Successful Collaboration , 2006, AMIA.

[7]  Paul G. Biondich,et al.  AMPATH Medical Record System (AMRS): Collaborating Toward An EMR for Developing Countries , 2005, AMIA.

[8]  Sharon S. Choi,et al.  An information system and medical record to support HIV treatment in rural Haiti , 2004, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[9]  Luiz Augusto Facchini,et al.  Health information technology in primary health care in developing countries: a literature review. , 2004, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[10]  Paul G. Biondich,et al.  The OpenMRS Implementers Network , 2009, Int. J. Medical Informatics.

[11]  William M. Tierney,et al.  A computer-based medical record system and personal digital assistants to assess and follow patients with respiratory tract infections visiting a rural Kenyan health centre , 2006, BMC Medical Informatics Decis. Mak..

[12]  S. Stansfield,et al.  Structuring information and incentives to improve health. , 2005, Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

[13]  Paul G. Biondich,et al.  Experience in Implementing the OpenMRS Medical Record System to Support HIV Treatment in Rwanda , 2007, MedInfo.

[14]  Vibha Anand,et al.  Using Adaptive Turnaround Documents to Electronically Acquire Structured Data in Clinical Settings , 2003, AMIA.

[15]  Sharon S. Choi,et al.  Implementing electronic medical record systems in developing countries. , 2005, Informatics in primary care.

[16]  Alan D. Lopez,et al.  Monitoring global health: time for new solutions , 2005, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[17]  Melissa Steward Electronic Medical Records , 2005, The Journal of legal medicine.

[18]  S I Hay,et al.  Creating spatially defined databases for equitable health service planning in low-income countries: the example of Kenya. , 2004, Acta tropica.

[19]  M. Cruz-cunha,et al.  Handbook of Research on Icts for Human-Centered Healthcare and Social Care Services , 2013 .

[20]  Kaija Saranto,et al.  Definition, structure, content, use and impacts of electronic health records: A review of the research literature , 2008, Int. J. Medical Informatics.