In this article you will learn how to install everything you need to get your Gnumed front end connected to a locally hosted Gnumed backend server. I will be illustrating this on Ubuntu 9.10 with the end result being a local-only installation. Of course the necessary modifications to make this a LAN-based installation shouldn’t be difficult for you, once you have the local install up and running.

This article comes a good time because this month it was just announced that new versions of Gnumed will include both medication management and prescription handling as well it was announced (on the Gnumed Blog) that a company is working on a billing feature for inclusion in a future release of Gnumed. That is certainly good news.

But, for now, let’s get on with the server installation.

Before we continue, make sure you have a working installation of PostgreSQL up and running. For more information on this take a look at my article “Basic postgresql server setup.”

Once you have PostgreSQL up and running you are ready to go.

Installing the backend

Go do the Gnumed server download mirror page and download the gnumed-server deb file (just click on a mirror). Once that file is downloaded open up a terminal window, cd to the directory you saved the file to, and issue the command:

sudo dpkg -i gnumed-server*

which will install the server.

As soon as the server is installed you have to create the databases used by Gnumed. Fortunately the Gnumed server package includes a simple command for this. From your terminal window issue the command:

sudo gm-bootstrap_server

This command will take some time to run its course. And, in the end, it might seem like you have some errors. These errors most likely mention a password – it is safe to ignore those errors.

Configuration

There are only two configurations you have to take care of. The first is to copy the proper .conf file into the ~/.gnumed directory. The file you want to copy will be /etc/gnumed/gnumed-client.conf. Copy that with the command:

sudo cp /etc/gnumed/gnumed-client.conf ~/.gnumed

You really only need to make one change in that file. Look for this section beginning with:

[profile local GNUmed database]

host =

You want to change the host = line to reflect:

host = localhost

Now you need to make a change to a PostgreSQL file. The file in question is /etc/postgres/8.4/main/pg_hba.conf. You have to add a section to a very specific section of this file. Look for this line:

# TYPE  DATABASE    USER    CIDR-ADDRESS    METHOD

Underneath that line you need to add:

local   samegroup   +gm-logins   md5

Once you have added that, save the file, and restart PostgreSQL with the command:

sudo /etc/init.d/postgresql-8.4 restart

Log in

Now it’s time to start up Gnumed and log in to your local server. When you start you will want the following login information:

• Backend: local Gnumed database
• Username: any-doc
• Password: any-doc

Hit the OK button to begin the login process. You will have to walk through a couple of windows (such as the language mismatch settings). But after that you will up and running with your own Gnumed backend server.

Final thoughts

It would behoove anyone medical practitioner looking to cut some corners (and wanting to take care of their own tech) to deploy Gnumed. And with the upcoming features, Gnumed is an outstanding solution.

Gnumed is developed by doctors and programmers from around the globe and is gaining plenty of traction. Gnumed is broken into a client and a backend server and is released for both the Linux platform and the Windows platform. In order to use Gnumed you do have to have the Server up and running. You can, however, demo Gnumed by connecting to one of the public demo databases.

For the purposes of this introductory article, we will connect to the public demo. In a later article I will outline setting up the backend server for Gnumed.

Installation

Fortunately the Gnumed client will be found in your distribution repositories. So to install the software you will only have to follow these steps:

1. Open the Add/Remove Software utility.
2. Search for “gnumed” (no quotes).
3. Select the results for installation.
4. Click Apply to install.

Figure 1

There are a few dependencies to meet, but the Add/Remove tool will take care of that for you. Once installed the application can be started from the Office sub-menu of the Application menu. When you first start Gnumed you will be welcomed by the connection window (see Figure 1). In this window you enter your credentials and connect to a server.

For those that are just testing out Gnumed you will want to connect to the public testing server. Here is the information to enter in order to connect to the public server:

• Backend: public Gnumed database
• username: any-doc
• password: any-doc

Once the authentication is successful you will be greeted by a welcome screen warning you that, since this is a publicly accessible database, any data you add will be lost. Once you OK that window you will see another window that requires you to set the database language. By default the language will be “None” and it needs to be set (for the demo) to “en_US”. To do this all you need to do is click the Set button.

Figure 2

After the db language is set the main window will open (see Figure 2).  As you can see, all entered patients are listed in this window. From here you can do just about anything you need to do. And that is the crucial question. Just what can you do with Gnumed? The feature list includes:

• Appointment managment.
• Client creation/import/management.
• Staff management.
• Allergy records.
• Forms and letters.
• Inbox.
• Track patient progress.
• Doctor journal.
• Document management.
• Drug information.
• Built-in report generator.

A word of note: The public database is fairly slow, so your experience with Gnumed may seem a bit lackluster. Do not assume this is the case with a private database, because Gnumed runs much, much faster when using a local backend.

Final thoughts

Gnumed is an outstanding open source tool for medical practices. With similar features as very costly proprietary solutions, any practice looking to cut costs need look no further than this application. Now, in our next look at Gnumed we will visit setting up a backend server so you can begin to actually use Gnumed for your practice.