Medical Instruments Tracking Software

Justictrax (not an endorsement) does this for law enforcement and government agencies, although I don't know about re-selling.

JusticeTrax: Forensic LIMS & Evidence Management Software for the ...

Thanks Lyn,

Can't see how it can be used for tracing hospital instruments from patient and through the reprocessing system, but will look deeper into it.

Do the instruments have a sensor (as in barcodes, RFID, image recognition, etc) that the software is to recognise while the device is on the move or is the input manually interfaced to the software ?

The instruments will be laser etched and this will be read. The input will be from scanning either manually but preferably automatic.

How do you have automatic scanning? Robot dispensers? Vending machines? I'm intrigued.

If the items are distributed by nursing staff, then they'll most likely collect several in one go. Then you can not be totally certain which one ends up with which patient.

So with a little bit more information, we now know you will be wanting to read laser etching.

Is the software you are seeking required to manage the input data in the tracking management or are you seeking software to recognise the etch marking to provide the input data ?

What form will the etched marking be - image, character, symbol, ?

What device will scan/read the etch mark and what form will the data in the data management side. Presumably the main criteria of the exercise will be to report by instrument excepton, i.e. report not what you still have, but that what you don't have, will this be the requirement of the software.

In a similar vein to the sanitary standards of equipment in food manufacture/processing, particularly dairy, is the etch marking technique permitted for medical applications ?

I am not trying to build a package but looking for a package that has been adapted to a particular application, i.e hospital instrument traceability....... Patient to patient journey through reprocessing........However that is made up is irrelevent to my question and I wish to reveiew what may be available. I will determine what fits our requirement.

I don't think an RFID chip can be inserted into the equipment....the autoclave will destroy the chip. A bar code chemically burnt into the material, then scanners everywhere. After that, you just need some tracking software. NCH has a free bar code creation program.

Yes , there are RFID chips which will tolerate high temperature in this case in excess of 134*C but we will be laser etching. It is precisely the software that we are looking for.

Hello,

I can offer the StartOS for ARM.

code.google.com/p/startos

I will look at that now and discuss, thanks

I presume you're happy to enter into a licencing agreement with the original software writer? Even the writers of open source software frown upon others who use their software and then sell it.

Not my field, but a barcoding based system wold seem most practical. We're introducing one as part of stock control at the factory where I work.

I asked because your OP was written in a way that implied you weren't totally aware of copyright laws.

if you want to automate this process it becomes both a hardware and a software issue, as the software is useless unless it understands the output from the code readers you are going to have to supply. I cannot see a manual input being successful for more than a trial period. Once the automated input has been sorted out (and the manufacturers of the reader should do that for you) the management of the database should be a relatively trivial exercise. However, your business model should respect the rights of the software author, and he should get either a full fee for hours worked or a royalty on the units sold.

Not the answer to my question but thanks anyway.

What you are asking for has been in use in many UK hospitals since about 1975. Some of the software has been bespoke but many are commercial. The software will track serial numbers of instruments and thus to provide a package for sale will be only an empty database which will need populating. The equipment in your establishment could not be supplied to others. The only general information would be that of suppliers.

The wheel has already been invented.

Speak to your local hospital Medical Electronics Department who would have this or similar already in use. Most of the software was introduced when the Medical Electronics Departments were ISO 9001 accredited.

What I have been looking for, is information on and leads for a system that I wish to obtain resale rights for in a country where we are offered contract work. The particular type of software , is in use in Ireland and other countries for many years and no, I don't want to re-invent the wheel thank you. I am very familar wth this software and have been involved in the installation of these systems in hospitals in Britain also.

Please read what I asked for.

To the contributors who gave a sensible helpful answer, I thank you. To the people who used the question, as a means to pick holes, thank you also but no thank you.

I guess people knew you had looked at all the normal ways, and were coming up with, well, not abnormal ways, but certainly unusual ways. The way the question was asked was very clear. You didn't like any of the usual sources for the tracking software. So you MUST have been looking for an unusual source. Nobody here has any idea why you dont' want to use the usual tracking software so readily available....presumably because it is too expensive, or you don't want to pay a licencing fee. (Glad you cleared that up by the way. )

You are already very familiar with the software, and have been involved in its installation. So what is wrong with the existing software? That is the software I would recommend. A casual google search came up with a half dozen.

So what do you want from us? We (or at least, I) have no idea why you have rejected the off the shelf solution. You have not said. What you DID say was look at the original question. I did that.

Sorry I am no further ahead. My knee jerk answer would be "you are an engineer, write it!" And you are certainly an honest fellow. Clever enough to compile some code for sure. But no doubt you don't want to reinvent the wheel. So what are you re-inventing?

Are you asking the CR4 people what systems they have tried and are looking for which one they like best?

Oh well....I tried. (shrug) The third or forth line above has a pile of links. What is wrong with them?

I disagree Yusef. The original question was not clear, which is why some of the answers aren't to the OP's liking. He seems determined to denigrate those seeking further clarification as a way to find out what he really needs. His rude answers and refusal to explain further aren't condusive to getting what he wants.

If the original question had the information you subsequently provided we would all have been wiser.

Try this: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=medical+instrument+tracking

OK, How's this?

You give me a detailed list of requirements and $50,000.00USD and I'll have it done in 4 weeks.

Then, I'll want 25% royalty for 5 years.

No one is going to work their tail off to produce a valuable system and give it away, unless they are well compensated.

€50,000 is not unreasonable for a piece of intricate software but 25% of what?

The money you will reap from the sales of this intricate software to medical institutions, and other users, of course.

4 weeks is a tad ambitious and certainly not achieveable, even by a genius, particularly when you do not know our requirements. $30,0000 for a few weeks work for a small team is possible.

25% is too high a royalty figure but 7.5% on net profits is more commercially attractive (assuming that you can trust us). Software copy protection would have to be added to prevent pirating as the market the software is to be used in , is notorious for copying.

Just had some responses in Linkedin and got 4 more decent leads. Thanks to the helpful and even the unhelpul for taking time to assist. It is appreciated.

My point is you may not be plowing the most fertile ground here.

You should be looking for an employee to do this.

Ok point take. We are in negotiations with the organisation who wishes that we install and maintain the software in a large number of hospitals in Asia and they insist that the software is not from particular companies and their wish is that is "owned" by us. This guarantees security. The idea of an employee is good and if we get this contract, then that will follow but at this stage we are teasing out if we can buy "off the shelf".