Our new article has been accepted in iScience:

Hauschild AC, Martin R, Holst SC, Wienbeck J, Heider D: Guideline for Software Life Cycle in Health Informatics. iScience 2022, in press. (Link)

Summary

The long-lasting trend of medical informatics is to adapt novel technologies in the medical context. In particular, incorporating artificial intelligence to support clinical decision-making can significantly improve monitoring, diagnostics, and prognostics for the patient’s and medic’s sake. However, obstacles hinder a timely technology transfer from research to the clinic. Due to the pressure for novelty in the research context, projects rarely implement quality standards.

Here, we propose a guideline for academic software life cycle processes tailored to the needs and capabilities of research organizations. While the complete implementation of a software life cycle according to commercial standards is not feasible for in scientific work, we propose a subset of elements that we are convinced will provide a significant benefit while keeping the effort in a feasible range.

Ultimately, the emerging quality checks for academic software development can pave the way for an accelerated deployment of academic advances in clinical practice.