Building a Web-based drug ordering system for hospitals: from requirements engineering to prototyping

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Pharmacy Management
• Software Engineering

Background:

• Many hospitals lack in-house pharmacies, necessitating external pharmaceutical supply.
• Effective communication between hospitals and external pharmacies is crucial for patient care.
• Existing drug ordering systems may not adequately address the needs of hospitals without pharmacies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define user and business requirements for an electronic drug ordering system.
• To present a novel method (CAP10) for capturing requirements from a large user base.
• To address technical and legal challenges in implementing web-based drug ordering.

Main Methods:

• Business process analysis and object-oriented modeling with end-users.
• Software prototype development for user requirement validation.
• Proposal of the CAP10 method utilizing pre-built models for requirement capture.

Main Results:

• A comprehensive understanding of user and business needs for electronic drug ordering.
• Validation of user requirements through a software prototype.
• The CAP10 method is proposed to efficiently gather requirements from numerous users.

Conclusions:

• Web-based drug ordering facilitates efficient communication for hospitals without pharmacies.
• The CAP10 method offers a scalable approach to defining electronic drug ordering system requirements.
• Technical and legal considerations for system implementation have been addressed.