Customer Stories
UMCG Revamps Their Medical Simulation App in 8 Weeks
Xebia worked closely with the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) to bolster Virtual Patient, a medical simulation app for aspiring and established medical professionals.
About UMCG
The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) is one of the Netherlands' leading academic hospitals, renowned for its integration of healthcare, education, and research. As such, UMCG is committed to delivering top-tier medical services and advancing medical science.
Reach and engage a broader audience of medical professionals.
Why
An end-to-end reimagination of Virtual Patient for iOS, Android, and the web.
What
Bring Virtual Patient to mobile phones and rebuild the editorial web application in 8 weeks.
How
Reimagining Virtual Patient
The original Virtual Patient ran as a simple Microsoft Teams plugin where learning was a top-down process. Medical trainers would start a scenario from their editorial web application, which would trigger the Teams plugin to play the scenarios for the medical residents. They were encouraged to play through the scenario and to discuss the questions with their peers.
A revamp was needed due to the Teams API being phased out by Microsoft. With the choice being between migrating their Teams plugin to the new API or taking the success from their proof of concept and re-envision Virtual Patient, UMCG chose the latter and reached out to Xebia to guide them on this journey. From this collaboration came the vision to create a mobile application that could reach medical professionals outside of UMCG and open up Virtual Patient to established and aspiring medical professionals worldwide.
The project's primary objective was to re-create and improve upon the core functionality of Virtual Patient. With this aim, Xebia collaborated with UMCG to re-conceptualize Virtual Patient into a mobile application. Envisioning not only new and enhanced functionalities but also opening up the library of patient care scenarios so that knowledge would be widely accessible to medical professionals around the world.
A Race Against the Clock
Xebia dispatched two of its expert software consultants to spearhead the development of a new infrastructure, an editorial web application, and a new mobile application for Virtual Patient. Together with UMCG, we realized that the editorial application needed to be completely overhauled to tailor it to the needs of the mobile application. This overhaul also provides UMCG with a future-proof editorial environment that lays a solid foundation for introducing new functionalities.
Key Technologies Driving this Project Include:
- React is used for the editorial environment to secure long-term maintainability and runs on the web.
- Expo is a React Native framework that allows the team to develop both the Android and iOS apps for Virtual Patient, streamlining the process of introducing new features in the future.
- Firebase, a GCP product used as the cloud solution that offers a complete set of tools for our back-end and deployment infrastructure, helping reduce costs and complexity while providing the modern services necessary to continuously evolve digital products at speed.
The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) is one of the Netherlands' leading academic hospitals, renowned for its integration of healthcare, education, and research. As such, UMCG is committed to delivering top-tier medical services and advancing medical science.
Propelling Virtual Patient Forward Through Strategic Migration
Having successfully piloted the Virtual Patient proof-of-concept within a limited Microsoft Teams-based user pool, UMCG saw the potential of its mobile application to expand its reach among medical professionals. With funding in place, the team embarked on an ambitious 8-week project with three core objectives:
- Rebuild the editorial environment
- Ensure a more intuitive and engaging user experience
- Transition the application from the Microsoft Teams environment to a standalone presence on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
The migration aimed to expand access to the app and solidify Virtual Patient's position as an innovative tool in medical training and simulation.
Building a Foundation for Success with Time to Spare
Working against such a short timeline, Xebia's consultants prioritized selecting tools that would accelerate development while facilitating the seamless integration of new features. As 2023 drew to a close, Xebia successfully met the deadline, delivering two wholly new applications that were built from the ground up, met the core objectives, leveraged the most cutting-edge technology, and most importantly, laid the foundation to grow with UMCG and the needs of medical professionals around the world.
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