About the project

The Directorate of Health is a body operating under the authority of Iceland's Minister of Health. A key responsibility of the Directorate is promoting improvements in healthcare quality and supervising healthcare services.

With technological developments improving doctors’ work worldwide, the Directorate of Health has decided to introduce a digital database of patients’ information, leading to a more efficient workflow for Icelandic healthcare professionals.

What did our client need?

Iceland's Directorate of Health observed that healthcare professionals face challenges in accessing essential information on patients' health, such as treatments, surgeries, allergies, or medications.

At present, Iceland is missing a unified online platform for comprehensive patient data and medical equipment information. This gap has led the Directorate of Health to recognise the urgent need for a national centralised information system, which they refer to as a "patient summary”.

Our client identified a necessity to combine the different types of data typical of medical records to make healthcare professionals' work faster and more thorough. This database would also benefit patients by eliminating the need to bring essential documentation when visiting a new doctor.

How did we approach the project?

Several companies are collaborating on the Directorate of Health's project, working together to complete multiple subprojects focused on digitising Iceland's healthcare system. This initiative presents an excellent opportunity to prepare user-friendly front-end and reliable back-end solutions.

Cooperation with both our client and other subcontractors is essential for this task. To support effective collaboration, we hold regular Teams meetings with our client's representatives and partnering companies while staying in continuous contact through Slack.

Revolve’s team consists of 9 people who are experts in the development of IT systems and UX design for healthcare services. Our team is led by Project Leader Kuba Rawicki. The Project Manager’s role is crucial in ensuring the quality of solutions in this project. Kuba, drawing on his experience, helps to facilitate the efficient delivery of the database.

We are currently able to showcase two subprojects completed for the Directorate of Health: a central database of implant information and a search engine for medical codes.

Subproject 1 – Central database of implants’ information

Patients often lack detailed information about their implant surgeries. Additionally, accurate recording of surgical data, including implants used, has been a challenge, impacting the flow of information between doctors and medical facilities. This knowledge gap can lead to delays in implementing appropriate treatments and may even result in serious health complications.

The solution proposed by the Directorate of Health is a database designed to allow doctors to view and edit information about implants and patients. This includes medical codes, surgery dates, surgeon names, and implants expiry dates. By using this tool, doctors can make treatment decisions more efficiently, saving valuable time.

Our task? Together with a team from Iceland, we designed the database in the form of a web app. As the Revolve team, we were responsible for the back-end of the solution, such as:

• an authentication process for the HCPs (OAuth2 & PKCS),

• a generic search engine for handling all processes of implants’ detail registration,

• a complex database for data management (e.g., implants, patients, doctors, procedures) in HL7 FHiR standard,

• a fully functional REST API providing necessary communication with the front-end layer for adding, editing, and deleting implants.

The development of this solution presents several challenges, including the integration with the Iceland.is Authentication Service (IAS), an external system responsible for the authentication process. We are proud to say that we have developed a system that is safe and compatible with Icelandic solutions.

When designing a data-intensive web app, we recognise the importance of ensuring smooth communication between medical facilities' systems. That's why we’ve gathered and adjusted the raw data regarding implants and patients according to the HL7 FHiR standard.

Moreover, to ensure the highest level of cyber security, our process consisted of code review based on OWASP, STRIDE threat modelling, and maintaining a SOUP list.

Subproject 2 – search engine for medical codes

The subproject we are currently working on is a search engine for medical codes in various code classifications (e.g., ICD 10, ICD 11). This time, we are responsible for the front-end while cooperating with a partner company to manage the back-end.

In order to provide the best possible User Experience for all doctors in Iceland, we made sure that the solution we proposed would be as user-friendly as possible. That's why we proposed functionalities such as:

• medical codes comparison engine,

• recently viewed codes,

• favourites,

• Frequently Asked Questions.

This will save doctors’ time while searching for the most necessary medical codes.

What we delivered?

The project for the Island's Directorate of Health is ongoing. We have now completed two of the projects:

• central database of implants’ information (back-end),

• search engine for medical codes (front-end).

In the coming months, we will continue to work with the Directorate of Health, assisting them in enhancing existing systems and creating new ones that will continue the improvement of healthcare services.

Our collaboration with the Directorate of Health is possible due to Imperio, an Icelandic company specialising in IT resourcing, and SOFTIQ Software House. Thanks to them, we have an opportunity to work on this project and contribute to bettering the lives of Icelanders.