10 years ago, as a new nurse, I had dreams of improving healthcare around the world. While my positive impact in nursing was generally limited to the patients I cared for in the hospitals I worked at, I searched for a way to improve healthcare beyond my physical presence. When I stumbled onto the idea that eventually became Infirmary Integrated, I always aimed to make it accessible for healthcare educators around the world, regardless of borders, language barriers, or technology barriers.
When I first started developing Infirmary Integrated, I ensured that I published it with accessibility in mind. To that end, I licensed it as free and open source software, free to be used for healthcare education with no restrictions in the classroom: free to download, and free to use. While healthcare has accessibility barriers around the world, educational software can easily be democratized and can be used to improve healthcare delivery around the world. That was my underlying goal.
To track progress on that goal and Infirmary’s use around the world, the program does collect anonymized usage data that I also use to guide feature implementation such as language localization. Every time I see Infirmary used in a new area of the world, I am excited to know that a healthcare educator may have found the software that will satisfy a niche in their classroom to further their students’ education, just how I use Infirmary regularly in a variety of courses that I teach.
To celebrate 4 years since the full release of version 1.0 (and 5 years since its first published pre-release version), I am ecstatic to announce that Infirmary has been used in 54 countries around the world! While I can’t identify how Infirmary is being used, for what, or by who, I am satisfied knowing that healthcare educators around the world have free access to tools that can enrich their classrooms and further their students’ knowledge, ultimately improving patient care and patient outcomes!
With that in mind, I look forward to expanding Infirmary’s usage, functionality, and strength as an educational tool. Together, we can advance healthcare education!
Sincerely,
Ibi Keller, MSN, RN, CCRN, CEN
