Founded in 2005, Informatici Senza Frontiere (ISF) is a nonprofit organization comprised of 12 regional branches and over 300 members. Its mission is to use technology in a smart, sustainable and supportive way to bridge the digital divide and carry out projects that improve the lives of people in communities in need. ISF supports those facing marginalization, difficulties and emergency situations within both Italy and developing countries.

Previously, ISF launched Open Hospital for the healthcare sector. The open-source software, which is free to use, was created to automate and simplify the management of hospitals, healthcare centers and electronic medical record (EMR) data, ensuring greater efficiency and cost reduction.

Through the Technology for Social Good program, we took part in the nonprofit project by advancing one of our most important goals: to create a real human impact through the use of digital tools and skills. Our contribution involved developing key components of ISF’s Open Hospital solution called “Hospital Pharmacy”.

A team of 30 of our experts volunteered for the project, led by seasoned professionals with strong industry and project management skills. The goal of the Open Hospital software is to integrate obsolete technologies that operate in the local networks of hospitals in developing countries. The project involves creating web-based software for hospital management, which opens the doors of hospitals to the rest of the world to help treat patients.

We started with a version of the Hospital Pharmacy module that was already in use and structured our work around three phases:

1. Creating a list within the system of pharmaceutical drugs that are available to each hospital.
2. Tracking the movements of pharmaceutical drugs entering and leaving each hospital.
3. Managing each hospital’s internal pharmacy, which is responsible for the administration of pharmaceutical drugs to hospitalized patients.

We used the following technologies, among others, to develop the application:

• React – an open-source JavaScript library for creating user interfaces
• TypeScript – a programming language developed and maintained by Microsoft
• Redux – an open-source JavaScript library designed to develop applications that are easy to test and can run consistently in different IT environments

In a world in which the need for pharmaceutical drugs is greater than the available supply, medications are "life savers" for patients – especially for many children. It’s therefore important that they’re tracked within hospitals and monitored during administration. Medications are critical for hospitals and the ability to access and better manage them can make a difference to the average patient's lifespan.

The solution we helped implement will enable intelligent management of the pharmaceutical supply chain, from planning new purchases to distributing them, both within the hospital and at home. The interoperability of the solution with Open Hospital’s Clinical module and the Laboratory Examination Management module will provide a detailed, complete and easily accessible view of a patient's personal data, status and clinical history. This is an indispensable tool to adopt more efficient, sustainable and participatory care models.

The Hospital Pharmacy solution will soon be added to the modules already adopted by hospitals in the city of Antsiranana in the north of Madagascar. It will also be adopted, along with the complete Open Hospital software, by the hospital in Vezo, a city in the country’s southwest.

Find out how we can help make your patients – and business – healthier.