About GNUmed

Goal

To produce and to make available free (as in liberated) open source software to help providers better document, understand, plan, and manage their patients' health, and health care delivery, at longitudinal points of care.

Quality Policy

The project places high value on safe, effective care. Any identified risk to safe, effective care shall be a top priority.

Quality Objectives

Within the limits of the project's resources,

• information will clearly separate what the software claims to do, from what it does not
• software will do what it claims to do
  • in a way that best allows providers to serve patient care
  • with a minimum of downtime, data loss, inappropriate data alteration or access, or errors
  • in a way that promotes community participation to further improve the software
• software downtime, data loss, inappropriate data alteration or access, and errors will
  • where manageable, be avoided by design
  • be able to be detected, reported, made known to the user base, repaired, worked around, and resolved in a time and manner appropriate to the severity of the errors or their consequences

and toward these objectives will be developed a Quality Management System.

Site Principles

• must serve as the overall project "hub" � over and above "internal" functions
• should as much as possible be built on Free and Open Source tools
• design and functionality should align with GNUmed project needs e.g. international, multilingual support
• feedback on usability is vitally important
• any revenue activity (intake, administration or spending) should be subject to an appropriate GNUmed board, once constituted

Site Objectives

• site provides international and multilingual support
• site demonstrates awareness & coordination of all pertinent GNUmed sites & resources
  • all important sites are listed
  • a guide to the purpose & location of sites & resources is maintained
• site "look and feel" are satisfactory
  • navigation and materials are clear, and pertinent, to multiple user levels and contexts
    • users able to self-serve
• site incorporates a strong feedback loop, and a process for responding to it

Work Principles (some borrowed from KDE)

• get it done NOW (well, without avoidable delay)!
• focus!
• use available tools rather than recreating existing ones!
• don�t talk. Act!
• improve iteratively
• start with reasonable functionality and configurability - then improve over time
• don't take anyone, or their contributions, for granted
• welcome scrutiny and review of objectives, methods, & choices
• attract numerous participants, in manageable regular roles, not just a few in roles difficult to sustain

Contact the GNUmed team

If you need to get in touch with the GNUmed team you can find contact information on the Contact information page

-- JamesBusser - originally 03 Feb 2004