Applied Medical Informatics Perspectives Vol. 31, No. 4/2012, pp: 58-66 The Free Software Model of Development in the Area of Medical Informatics Dan ISTRATE 1,*, Dumitru MOLDOVAN1 1 “Iuliu Haţieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca, 6 Louis Pasteur, 400349 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania. E-mails*:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; Tel.: +4-0264-431697; Fax: +4-0264- 593847 Received: 1 November 2012 /Accepted: 21 December 2012 / Published online: 27 December 2012 Abstract The computerization of medical records is a common goal for modern healthcare systems. The aim of this research was to identify the main attributes of the free software development model for health informatics projects used to computerize a medical office or a small clinic, that ensures their success. Material and methods: Our study has assessed the benefits that electronics health records can bring to small health care facilities by analyzing a limited number of open source software suites in the area of medical informatics. We have investigated the way in which these benefits may be achieved by implementing the presented software solutions, taking care to highlight the peculiarities of the open source model of development that prove to be differentiating factors against equivalent closed source commercial solutions. Results: The paper presents the facts about the projects and the assessment criteria used in the study: developer community, user community, online resources, user interface ergonomy, documentation, hardware requirements. Conclusion: The main attributes of the free software development model for health informatics projects used to computerize a medical office or a small clinic that ensures their success, were: clarity, simplicity, extensibility, documentation.