27. OpenMRS is…
An Electronic Medical Record System
A data model
An API
An HIV system
A TB system
A Primary Care system
A developer community
An implementer community
But medicines could cure. Scaling to meet the needs required an enterprise information system.
The common practice was very top heavy; government agencies driving reporting systems.To hope to scale, we needed a new paradigm.
The odds were against us.
So, could we adopt someone else’s work?Looking around, we found many silos of effortNothing fit.So before we really got started, we evaluated the health IT landscape in the developing world…Unfortunately, we saw many silo’ed projects that weren’t interoperable with each other…
The common “flat” approach to databases
New column for new data
Doesn’t scale. Changing the data model is expensive.
By creating a concept dictionary…
We can “stack” the same data
…it’s added to the dictionary.
Results are “stacked.” No need to change the data model.
We started with the data modelThe foundation for the entire system.And we shared this with anyone who would look at it and offer criticism.
We wrapped the data model in an API.
Modules make adapting the system much easier.
Our community grew.
We caught the eye and interest of several generous and helpful organizations.