Challenges Faced by Testers in the Healthcare Domain

Testing healthcare software is a difficult task for testers as it requires a vast knowledge of the domain. It also poses many challenges because of the complexity of the design, diagnosis, and the day to day development of the patient. Moreover, the product needs to conform to various Safety and Regulatory Standards such as IHE, HL7 and others.

With an increase in the demand for healthcare software, there is also a rise in the complexity of the product. Let us have a look at some of the challenges faced while testing healthcare products as mentioned by Adarsh on testrepublic.com.

1.    Healthcare Standards
Testers should be aware of the various standards in the healthcare domain such as DICOM, HIPAA and others while testing the product for various aspects. Testing a healthcare product without having knowledge of the various standards will result in the inadequacy of testing.

2.    Domain and System Knowledge
Testers should be well aware of the various functionality, clinical usage, the environment the software will be used and others while testing healthcare products.

3.    Safety and Hazards
If the healthcare product is not tested adequately for safety and hazards, it will have a fatal impact not only on the product but also on the patient. Testers must be able to identify the various hazards and their impact.

4.    Process Compliance
Healthcare products also need to comply with various standards like FDA, ISO and CMMI before they can be used. Testers must be well trained on the various standards so as to ensure that the product meets the requirements of the various standards.

5.    Cross Dependency of Software
Complex software has different components and layers. Changes in one component or layer can lead to some side effects on the other. Testers must ensure that there will be no side effects on the other layers whenever there are changes.