I used to work on simulation software for the radiation oncology department at a hospital. The software was used to plan treatment regimens where patients would be zapped by radiation beams coming in from various directions such that the beams would all intersect at the tumour and destroy it, but because they came in from all angles, all the flesh around the tumour would only get hit by one or two of the beams and not take a deadly dose. The hospital had built its own software and had been working on it for decades, and there was always this tension of whether switching to a modern commercial package and getting all kinds of new capabilities was worth losing the benefits of building it exactly to our needs. (We switched a year or two after my time. I don't know how it went, but I've certainly wondered.)
I guess it's a problem of long-lasting institutions. Sigh. Good luck.
no subject
I used to work on simulation software for the radiation oncology department at a hospital. The software was used to plan treatment regimens where patients would be zapped by radiation beams coming in from various directions such that the beams would all intersect at the tumour and destroy it, but because they came in from all angles, all the flesh around the tumour would only get hit by one or two of the beams and not take a deadly dose. The hospital had built its own software and had been working on it for decades, and there was always this tension of whether switching to a modern commercial package and getting all kinds of new capabilities was worth losing the benefits of building it exactly to our needs. (We switched a year or two after my time. I don't know how it went, but I've certainly wondered.)
I guess it's a problem of long-lasting institutions. Sigh. Good luck.