I would like to try this application in a small hospital in Haiti, LaVallee, more specically and i would like to have an idea on system requirements for both Windows and Linux, such as disk space, RAM, CPU, Clock speed, etc. Does anyone have any document that can help me. In addition, what type of maintenance would be needed to perform to keep this system running, as I will not be there again for 6 months or so. Finally, for growth planning, purposes, how much disk space would i need to have?
Whatever computer you have is almost certainly enough.
Seriously, I’ve set it up many times in a virtual machine with 256-512 MB of memory and 10 GB of disk. But some of the reports can be slow, so a fast machine with more memory for caching is better. Disk space usage in most cases will be almost entirely dependent on the size and number of patient documents (PDFs and other images) that you want to store, so do the math to figure that.
For ease of remote maintenance I’d recommend using Linux with openssh-server installed.
Interesting, I am assisting a Canadian Charity that has activities in Haiti and have been asked to assist with development and installation of a software EMR system for a new medical clinic in Haiti, so I have similar qwuestions;
We need;
• Software that will operate well on a laptop and is independent of an internet connection and also independant of a server
• Ability to back up data via USB to an external drive
• Basic/easy to use and intuitive GUI (as most users in Haiti will have minimal computer skills)
• French language interface
• Access to reports and to data tables to develop custom reports
Is OpenEMR a system that will meet these requirements?
Can OpenEMR be installed and maintained independent of a 3rd party software vendor?
***I’m a little uncertain about Rod’s last comment, is a server reccomended or required?
OpenEMR can be installed in a standalone machine and could be operated without internet connection locally but this restricts the data only within the system environment if connected using LAN.
The backup of the database can be taken within the machine that holds OpenEMR and this can be backed up in a USB or an external drive.
The GUI is general in OpenEMR and is user friendly. There are many sites that assists with guidelines in using OpenEMR.
OpenEMR supports localization and the language could be changed to French (Administration -> Globals -> Local)
Reports and data tables can also be accessed. Regarding custom reports, it depends on the usability and may need customization to get it done.
OpenEMR do satisfies the requirements that your looking from our view.
As per Rod’s statement, a server is recommended to handle huge sets of patient data and multiple user logins.
Just to clarify, OpenEMR is a web application. However you can easily install both the web server software (e.g. Apache with MySQL) and the web browser software (e.g. Firefox) on the same computer, and thus have a standalone system.
I was almost ready to tackle the installation and then had concerns about user manuals. I have a few questions about documentation.
Again, one of the concerns in Haiti is the reliability of the internet. Are the user manuals contained within the app once downloaded?
if not is it possible to download the user manuals and videos so that they can be made available to users without internet connection (I have searched the site but have been unable to find any info re: this feature)?
OpenEMR user manual is available only with access to internet within the app.
It is not possible to download the videos/documnets that is supported by OpenEMR. We have some OpenEMR user manuals that could be download. Please refer the link and let us know if this helps.