A time is coming when technology and medicine will be synonymous. For the first time in history you can build your own toolbox for almost no money and iterate (build things) really quickly.
At present clinicians are increasingly working with developers to produce technology. However, because there doesn’t yet exist a common language between the two worlds this can result in communication difficulty. Enter the clinical developer who knows the difference between an SQL database and a host but also the real problems on the ground and some of the subtleties of healthcare.
One way a clinician developer can communicate their ideas is by building a prototype. This prototype can be built quickly and enables the clinician to test their concept quickly but also show a professional developer what it is that they want to achieve. As a beginner the best way to start is by using tools. There are hundreds of these available nowadays and they are the best way to ‘get into’ a field quickly to achieve results at a very low cost. Some of the best tools will be covered in a following post.
Tools may be all that a clinical developer needs to achieve results, and indeed most will. However, some will want to take things further. This is where you need to decide what kind of clinician developer to become. This will be covered in the next post.
Matt Stammers' Blog 