Reviving #WardSonar: Rapid Prototyping of a Ward Monitoring Application

• • Client: Professor John Baker, Chair of Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Health

• • Timeline: <3 months

• • Team: 2 RSEs (1 intern, 1 senior)

• • Technologies: JavaScript, Python, GraphDB, Netlify

• • License: GPL GNUv3

• • Link to code repository: WardSonar

Challenge

Professor Baker needed help to revive #WardSonar, a software application that enables clinicians to monitor the therapeutic environment of mental health wards through a weather-based patient feedback system. An early prototype had been developed and piloted through a National Institute for Health and Care Research grant, but with the original developers no longer available, John needed a new, updated functional prototype to demonstrate its value to prospective funders and users. It was also essential that Leeds researchers receive proper credit in any future publications enabled by the application.

Solution

We developed and open-sourced a working prototype of the ward monitoring application, allowing health professionals to validate the concept and enabling wider adoption by the research community. We hosted the implementation on the University’s GitHub server, ensuring continuity of access and proper institutional stewardship.

How we worked together

We allocated Mysha, an RSE summer intern, to work closely with John to understand his requirements and develop the first version of WardSonar. Following this, Sorrel worked with John to release the application under an open source license, ensuring it could be used and further developed by other researchers and healthcare professionals.

Outcomes

• • Delivered a working prototype in under 3 months, significantly faster than would have been possible without RSE involvement
  • Attracted interest from several NHS trusts and international partners in 3 different countries who want to adopt #WardSonar
  • Made the codebase openly available on GitHub under an open source GPL GNUv3 license, enabling future development and collaboration
  • Archived the first prototype on Zenodo, ensuring Leeds researchers receive proper credit in future publications

Mysha rose to the challenge of working out a range of different processes which would enable patients to anonymously enter data and staff to view a dashboard of the findings. This was not an easy task—a previous technology company had spent considerable time developing #WardSonar the first time.
— Professor John Baker

Technical overview

• • Web-based application built using JavaScript and Python libraries
  • Lightweight database implemented using GraphDB
  • Deployed the application for testing using Netlify’s free tier
  • Open sourced the codebase on GitHub

Investment

This project was funded by the N8 CIR summer internship programme at no cost to the client.

Projects of similar type and complexity can be undertaken by one of our experienced RSEs through our consultancy service, with costs based on buying a fraction of RSE time for your department or research group.