Over the years, the practice of DevOps has substantially surged. In essence, it is a software development methodology that emphasises cooperation among multiple teams and prioritises speedy delivery of top-notch results. This approach has fundamentally altered the modus operandi of software creation and administration.
DevOps is an approach that leverages automation and agile methodologies to expedite the provision of IT services. The adoption of DevOps toolchains not only enhances co-operation and productivity between teams, but also yields additional perks.
The healthcare sector can reap substantial advantages from the ingenious capabilities and streamlined processes of DevOps. Furthermore, the industry is becoming progressively aware of the worth of smart and tech-savvy software programs for hospital administration.
The evolving healthcare scenario necessitates healthcare providers to be more receptive and available to their patients. To fulfil this requirement, a lot of providers have integrated features like reminder emails and follow-up text messages into their backend functionalities.
Narus Health and Diameter Health are utilising DevOps to furnish a seamless end-to-end user experience. They are accountable for maintaining, resolving issues and executing healthcare systems, and are using AWS cloud-native solutions to guarantee 24/7 support for these functions.
The advantages of adopting DevOps in the healthcare sector
DevOps offers numerous benefits that make it a perfect remedy for the healthcare industry, where swift and efficient solutions are imperative to ensure optimal performance.
Increasing Engagement
Healthcare institutions that have implemented CI/CD pipelines have frequently witnessed enhancements in the efficiency and convenience of their offerings. Some features that could possibly heighten patient contentment include self-service check-in systems, enabling quicker processing of patients, and computerised prescription dispensing, which allows patients to receive medicines even if they are absent.
The healthcare provider caters to their patients’ needs by furnishing accessible and effective medical care. Additionally, they proffer the option of doctors automatically scheduling appointments, ensuring service quality is upheld while simultaneously enhancing operational efficiency.
Data Management
Adopting a data-centric approach is the most efficient way of developing solutions that are both effectual and economical. Harnessing data to glean valuable insights can amplify productivity and bestow a competitive advantage to businesses. Nonetheless, healthcare institutions may generate an extensive amount of data that could surpass current analysis methods.
DevOps toolchains facilitate healthcare experts in competently controlling and harnessing data from multiple origins, like laboratories, pharmacies, medical device reports, electronic health records (EHRs), wearables, and insurance claims, by employing data pipelines and big data applications.
Automating Software Development
By incorporating automation into current systems, DevOps approaches empower healthcare providers to generate superior applications, which permits them to competently regulate resources and fulfill service level agreements. Moreover, standardized procedures ensure seamless deployment and speedy feature rollouts.
Data Security and Compliance with Regulations
Integrating an “infrastructure as code” approach at the heart of DevOps empowers healthcare providers to inculcate security best practices directly into individual application components, known as DevSecOps.
By applying this technique, we can establish a pipeline and simultaneously conduct vulnerability analysis. This empowers the development and deployment teams to detect and resolve any security glitches before they pose a threat. Additionally, access to sensitive data is sanctioned solely to authorized users and computers based on the principle of ‘least privilege’.
Factors to Consider for Healthcare DevOps
The healthcare industry has rapidly implemented DevOps in recent years owing to the numerous advantages it offers. Presently, 73% of healthcare IT departments have opted for DevOps as their development methodology.
Healthcare institutions can enhance their DevOps strategy by integrating DevOps and agile development frameworks. These models employ analytics to pinpoint glitches and propose viable solutions, besides encouraging communication and instilling trust among team members.
Test automation must be accorded top priority in your organization. Automated testing (including acceptance, unit, and functional tests) and amassing related data and metrics are indispensable to guarantee program quality and efficiency. Automated metrics may be leveraged to enhance code quality.
Getting Started with DevOps in Healthcare
Preparation
To effectively deploy the DevOps methodology, you need to commence with a comprehensive strategy phase. This encompasses scrutinizing the current operational and development processes and implementing appropriate modifications. Further, it is vital to thoroughly examine inventory, software regulations, security standards, in addition to technical and human resources. Besides, managing tasks and scheduling team meetings may be necessary.
Continual Integration
The CI server is accountable for disseminating all system updates and new code modules to the master repository. This streamlines collaboration and code reusability across teams and minimizes the potential for any unforeseen glitches.
Continuous Verifications
The shared repository’s functionality is frequently evaluated to ensure it is operating as intended. In the event of satisfactory test results, the process will continue. If the tests yield unsatisfactory or inconclusive outcomes, the system will strive to determine the cause of the issue by referring to an extensive error message database.
The goal is to determine whether the identified error is widespread. In case it is a novel mistake, the software logs the specifics and creates an incident. The matter is then communicated to the development team, who can employ an incident tracker to oversee the progress of the situation.
A Continuous Rollout
After the code has been tested successfully, it can be premiered on either the live system or the development system, based on the company’s protocol. This permits frequent and swift code upgrades to be executed.
Continuous Monitoring and Response
Regular monitoring of the software guarantees optimal functioning. Detected flaws are instantly reported to the development and operations teams, with an incident record created and communicated right away. The system collects analytics on incident counts as well.
Throughout this Document
It is encouraging to witness the healthcare industry embracing DevOps in response to existing challenges. The healthcare sector is under immense pressure to deliver outcomes while maintaining patient safety and system stability.
Through DevOps implementation, healthcare organizations can improve patient care by reducing downtime and enhancing accessibility. This measure ensures top-notch, dependable healthcare for patients in the digital age. Learn more about how the Internet of Things is impacting the healthcare sector.
