21-01-2013, 03:50 PM
Online Patient Management System for Kasthamandap Dental Clinic Pvt. Ltd.
2. Introduction to the Project
In order for companies and organisations to carry out their daily tasks successfully, they follow certain processes. Management systems are responsible for maintaining those processes (British Standards Institution, 2012). They are present in almost every aspect of our daily lives like banks, movie theatres and shopping centres.
In recent years with the introduction, and rise of cloud computing, many systems are being shifted from desktop systems to online systems. Such online systems have become widely accepted because of the advantages that they have over desktop systems. Online systems have the portability that a desktop system does not. They can be accessed from any part of the world, where internet access is available. For dentists who travel frequently or have patients in various parts of the world, an online system can become advantageous. As a result, many dental clinics in the USA and UK have incorporated the use of such online systems to manage their patient records. Also, online systems allow for larger data storage than regular desktop systems.
Patient managementsystems in dental clinics start with the dental staff communicating with the patients and making sure that they understand what problems they face and what treatment they require. Patient recording and management is carried out using either paper-based or digital forms.
Dental clinics help in providing proper dental care to patients. Dental problems are a major concern to many people and can be a real annoyance. In order for the clinics to treat the patients, a systematic approach has to be followed where the problems are identified; treatment plans are produced and then followed accordingly.
In Nepal’s context, the method followed by many of the clinics including the client for this project, ‘Kasthamandap Dental Clinic Pvt. Ltd’, is a paper-based system. Since this clinic has thousands of patient records, management of those records is a huge hassle. They have currently dedicated an entire room of filing cabinets to store those paper based forms and other treatment records.
This has become a problem for Kasthamandap, which is why they have requested an online system to transfer their records and better manage their patients. With the new system, patient management for the clinic will become much easier and much more efficient. The new system will be developed using a PHP platform, MySQL database and Apache web server.
This project plans to be mutually beneficial for both Kasthamandap as well as myself. As part of my Final Year Project (FYP), this project will be useful to present to the university what I have learnt, and in return the clinic will acquire a useful system that will improve their day-to-day patient management.
3. Aimof the Project
The main aim of the project is “to convert the existing paper-based patient management system to an online patient management system”.
By doing so, the process of patient management will become much more efficient. However, to do this certain milestones will have to be met. As these milestones are met on a timely basis the project will be able to move forward smoothly and on schedule.
The purpose of the finished system is to help ease the overall patient management, by reducing the paperwork and provide a quicker and secure access to the patient files.
4. Objectives of the Project
The objectives and deliverables of the project are as follows:
• To research about other online patient management systems available in the market by October 15, 2012.
• Identify risks and create respective contingency plans for each of them by October 31, 2012.
• To plan all the activities of the project and mapping them on Gantt charts using MS-Project by November 11, 2012
• To deploy the final system at the client side, and document their feedback before March 20, 2013.
5. Deliverables of the Project
• Complete documentation of the project and the system, which will include background research, literature review, and development phase of the project, testing and feedbacks.
• User manual of the system.
6. Suggested Starting Point
Before developing any software or product, the requirements of the client need to be identified first. Investigation into similar systems in the market is also necessary to understand the requirements of the market.
As such, online research into similar systems will be a major starting point of this project. After the initial features are identified, interviews with the client will help filter those requirements or even add other individual features requested by Kasthamandap. This will help paint a picture of the initial concept of the system.
7. Estimated Costing and Resources Required
After the initial HTML base of the site is developed, further development will be done using resources such as HTML5, PHP and MySQL and Apache HTTP Server.
For the front-end HTML5 will be used. HTML5 is the latest version of HTML, improving on HTML4. It HTML5 improves on the error handling, which will help save time and money. Also HTML5 provides in-built multimedia features, which was not available previously in HTML4 (Tutorial Chip, 2011).
For the server-side scripting PHP will be used, which is the most widely used scripting language in the market. PHP codes also run faster than most other similar scripting languages. The main competitor of PHP in the market is ASP, which is a costlier alternative.
The database, which is highly compatible with PHP, is MySQL. MySQL is again the most widely used relational database management system as it can be obtained freely.
Apache HTTP Server is compatible with almost all languages and operating systems available, which is why it is the most widely used web server in the world (SocialCompare, 2012).
HTML5, PHP, MySQL and Apache HTTP server are all available as free and open source, which will largely reduce the overall cost of the project, which will in turn reduce the overall price of the online patient management system.
However, later on for the deployment of the system a single desktop PC with adequate configurations will be required to act as the server and administrator input for this site. This cost will depend upon the quality of the system and necessary equipments required.