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Medullan's December Newsletter Featuring Our Top Technology Picks for 2009
09/12/2009 - As a technology consulting firm geared towards developing innovative solutions, we are always seeking, evaluating, and applying new technologies and platforms to build user-friendly, cost effective solutions. In this issue, Medullan highlights some of the new technologies that we have worked with in 2009. We also discuss our experience with the evolution of healthcare practices and their usage of technology to provide better service to patients.
Medullan's Top Technology Picks in 2009
At Medullan we strive to utilize new technology to deliver solutions that are highly usable and push the boundaries of technology usage in the healthcare industry. Listed below are a few of the top technologies that we have used in 2009 to create a number of different applications. By remaining technology agnostic, we are able to use the technology that best suits the need and environment, rather than force fitting a particular technology into a solution.
Adobe Flex is a software development kit that allowsflex for delivery of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) using the Adobe Flash platform. An RIA is a desktop-style application deployed within a Web Browser. Adobe Integrated Runtime, AIR, is the cross platform runtime environment that works with Flex.
Utilizing the AIR environment allows us to build applications using Adobe Flex and also provides us the flexibility of deploying the application on the user's machine with minimal installation. The Adobe Flex and AIR solution gives us the ability to easily implement Flash source code while integrating HTML code into the application.
Elgg (Social Network Framework)
Like most social networking platforms, Elgg allows advanced user management, administration, social networking, cross-site tagging, powerful access control lists, multiple view support (e.g. cell phones, iPhone, etc.), an advanced template engine, widget framework, and more. It is also open source software so developers are given the opportunity to expand sites by building plug-ins to install it on sites and share.
At Medullan we recognize the need for culture based on collaboration, sharing and the opportunity to leverage technology to push these ideals further. We felt that Elgg was robust and extensible enough to create such an environment so we used the framework to build our internal social networking platform, "Axis".
jQuery is a lightweight open-source JavaScript library, emphasizing the interaction between JavaScript and HTML.
For the project OPED iGetBetter web application, we used jQuery to improve our user interface and make our code more modular. jQuery uses an object-oriented approach to JavaScript coding, as well as utilizing a plug-in library. This enabled us to quickly create a 'plan editor' designer, which allows the user to add and edit 'plan cards' on the screen and sort and group them automatically.
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
WPF is a graphical subsystem for rendering user interfaces in Microsoft Windows-based applications. It provides hardware acceleration and enables modern UI features such as transparency, gradients and transforms.
In creating a desktop application to work with the OPED iGetBetter web application we were able to use WPF to create a user interface that had a similar look and feel to the website, providing continuity of experience. We also were able to use string resources to allow for future translation to other languages.
Drupal is an open source content management system used to accelerate the creation of web pages and web applications. Drupal provides a platform with features and functionalities programmers can extend to create virtually any type of web application, from complex collaboration websites to personal blogs.
Drupal's ability to manage document content with workflows for approval has allowed us to easily create web sites that many people can contribute to, while enforcing content approval before being published for general view. In this way, our customer in the pharmaceutical development space is able to ensure that the correct information is given to their users without giving away intellectual property.
Healthcare Practices and Technology
by Michael Etkind, Technical Manager
The many benefits that Technology brings to Healthcare has been an ongoing discussion for years. No one disputes that there is inherent value, but there may not be a consensus on exactly what that value is - especially given the differences across practices.
Primary Care practices come in different shapes and sizes, and what brings the most value to each depends on the practice itself. Some will find great use in electronically managing patient's health records online, including integrating with specialists' systems to retain their results/conclusions. Other practices will make use of better-integrated billing, referrals, and possibly collaboration tools.
However, even with the value that technology brings, it will be useless without a high rate of adoption. Medullan believes that three critical factors lead to successful adoption of a Primary Care technology solution:
- Intuitive user interfaces
- Processes for training the user base on to the new systems
- Plans for importing and retaining all existing data with the reliable, scalable, and flexible technologies
All three of these aspects of a project must be considered from the start. It's not enough to come up with a solution that looks great but doesn't satisfy all business needs.Pre-existing business driven functionality does not always lend itself to a new User Interface. Medullan uses a design phase to plan out all tracks of a project at a high-level to ensure that all each track is building to a common solution. In this way, Medullan,together with our clients, defines a solution that not only uses the best technologies, but also ensures the creation of a solution that adds value in the Primary Care environment.
Advocates for Human Potential (AHP), Inc
Medullan has partnered with Advocates for Human Potential (AHP), Inc., is a research and consulting firm that specializes in changing or improving organizational systems. Company services focus on the needs of people with disabilities and disadvantages to help them achieve full community integration.
Environment and Health Group, Inc.
Environment and Health Group, Inc. is a health and wellness research firm formed by leading academics from the fields of social research, geriatrics, and public health specializing in the application of technology solutions for the purpose of improving health in various populations.