Qt Framework and its Hidden Gems for Medical Software - Why is it a Perfect Choice?

This is a guest blog from Scythe Studio, an official sponsor for Qt World Summit 2025. 

All people around Qt perfectly understand that it's a powerful framework and that it can fulfill a wide spectrum of project needs. Qt offers not only GUI programming capabilities but also advanced tooling and plenty of built-in modules making it a great choice for most medical devices manufacturers.

What authorizes us to write about this topic? Scythe Studio is a Qt development company with a strong focus on medical devices. Over the years we participated in the development of multiple platforms including surgical robots and medical imaging applications. Our role spanned requirements engineering, UX/UI design, C++ and Qt programming, testing, and recently also regulatory and cybersecurity work. Over 80% of our projects are for medtech industry customers.

We introduced the ISO 13485:2016 quality management system and we organized software development in the IEC 62304:2006 regime. Assuming all of the above we feel not only predisposed but also obliged to share tips on effective medical device development using the Qt framework.

In-depth Qt Medical Software Course  

Qt framework is enormous and therefore we decided that all these characteristics making sense for medical software deserve a proper in-depth analysis. Therefore we prepared a medical industry-specific course on using Qt in this sector.

You can watch Qt for Medical Device Software by Scythe Studio course on Qt Academy and YouTube. Although it took some time to prepare consistent and precise content, the final length of the videos was only an hour and a half. So do something good for your team, sit comfortably, get something to drink and a snack, watch, and take notes! :D

What Can You Build with Qt for Medical?  

Let's first focus on what kind of medical software you can build using Qt. Firstly let's focus on the primary purpose of the software to distinguish between several use cases. By "medical" in this article, we might mean apps or devices that are used also outside the hospital. This term includes:

• Medical Devices - these alone already vary a lot. The spinal surgery system is a medical device. A desktop application that performs 3D segmentation of selected body parts is a medical device as well. This range is not limited by the used platform, operating system, hardware target, or medical field (whether is cardio surgery or dental).

• In-vitro Diagnostic Devices - those are devices that are used to test biological samples to determine health parameters.

• Clinical Lab Equipment - microscopes, measurement tooling, storage units, bio 3D printers. All various devices run software behind and a lot of them incorporate displays with user interface.

• Wellness / Fitness - modern gym equipment like treadmills or weight-lifting machines often go with touch screens where you can set up the workout parameters or have attractively visualized performance. This also applies to various wellness equipment.

• Healthcare IT - various applications used for example as hospital information systems. Typically they can be either desktop, web, or mobile.

Want real-world examples? Check out the Qt.io website. You'll find companies like Dräger using Qt for their respirators, Fresenius for infusion pumps, and Clarius for portable ultrasound systems. And I know many other big names in the industry rely on Qt.

Shortly on Selected Case Studies - Lessons Learned  

At Scythe we have been working on surgical systems, mobile blood analyzers, PCR testers, HIS apps, electropowering systems, and more. We used to work for corporations and startups. The majority of these projects were regulated by MDR, IVDR, or FDA. They were both class III products, but also class I or II. What was the most common problem we saw in these projects? What was the most common problem we saw in these projects? Unfamiliarity with everything Qt offers even in an open source license.

A lot of software developers associate Qt with user interface development and only with it while it has plenty to offer. As mentioned, the entire complexity of the framework is impossible to explain in one article, so once again I suggest having a look at the course. However, let's attempt and explain why it's worth choosing Qt for medical software development.

Why Choose Qt for Medical Software Development?  

Here's why Qt has become our go-to choice for medical software development:

1. Full-Featured Framework  

Medical devices can be totally different from each other. You never know what features you will need to implement. In most cases, it's better when we base our development on a limited number of dependencies. This way you mitigate the maintenance effort and cybersecurity risk. Moreover, in the case of the medical sector you have to watch every and each dependency closely as they are SOUPs (Software of Unknown Provenance). You have to verify each dependency and based on the framework that comes with a lot of features you limit this effort.

Enormous Amount of Tools and Modules  

Below is a graphic illustrating Qt Add-On modules. Those modules are the ones that are not part of essential, core modules. Many of them are available for all Qt users. You can see that there are plenty of them and this list doesn't even include any extra libraries (like Qt Application Manager, Safe Renderer) or tools.

It's really handy as for example many devices implement extensive connectivity. A lot of connectivity protocols have an implementation in one of the Qt modules.

Medical GUI Development  

That Qt is a GUI framework everyone knows. But what makes it special? Let's break it down into its essentials.

With Qt you have basically two ways to develop a user interface: Qt Widgets and Qt Quick. The first is based on C++ and it's as mature as the entire framework however mostly style-wise (it can be also customized, but it's cumbersome) is not the best technology to choose for modern GUIs. It's perfect for desktop apps. Qt Quick on the other hand is a trend-establishing and also robust solution used across a lot of projects including desktop, embedded, and mobiles.

What GUI aspects of Qt Quick are worth attention? Surely it's a declarative and natural way of coding user interfaces with QML. It's difficult to explain, but often from just looking at QML code, you can visualize how the UI is structured in your head. It offers you rapid prototyping. Moreover, Qt Quick module offers a wide range of visually attractive effects like animation, multimedia or graphical effects (shadows, blurs, masks) required in many modern interfaces. One of our customers recently asked to make their aesthetic device GUI look like an automotive cockpit! And this trend will follow.

Additionally, in terms of GUI, Qt supports 3D programming, custom performant charts and tools for safe rendering.

Here you can find a longer elaboration on medical GUI development using Qt.

2. Cross-Platform Compatibility  

Qt supports all major desktop and mobile platforms, embedded Linux, RTOS, and even WebAssembly. This gives us flexibility during R&D, allows for easy porting, promotes code reuse, and keeps our technology stack smaller. In short, Qt offers cross-platform development in its full definition.

Saying about hardware targets. Qt officially supports everything from powerful boards like Nvidia Jetson to resource-constrained microcontrollers like the STM32 F769I. While it may not be ideal for the absolute smallest MCUs like ESP32, most medical devices don't typically use such limited hardware. There is a huge list of supported embedded targets on Qt's website.

3. Short Time-to-Market  

There are several reasons why Qt allows rapid medical device development. It's a combination of various Qt characteristics. It's about the aforementioned effective UI development, it's about built-in features and modules, it's about streamlined designing process (thanks to Qt Design Studio) and it's about integrated testing using Qt's Q&A tools. If you just know how to orchestrate it correctly, then you can really accelerate your efforts.

4. Maturity  

In regulated industries like medicine, choosing mature, well-established technologies is vital. Qt has been around for a long time and has a strong track record of medical devices built using this technology. A lot of them successfully passed regulatory bodies.

Qt has existed for quite a long time. In MedTech companies, we want solutions that will be supported for years to come. The framework we based development on, should be mature and reliable. 90% of the top Global MedTech companies build their devices using Qt.

5. Certifications, Transparency and Traceability  

While at Scythe we develop software according to IEC 62304 and ISO 13485, Qt Group also has numerous certifications, demonstrating their commitment to quality. To my mind, the most important standards Qt incorporates are the ones they use for the development of the framework itself like ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015.

If you look at how Qt source code is organized you will notice that everything there is traceable and that you count on their immediate reaction on cybersecurity issues. Every time a new patch is uploaded, a bunch of unit and integration tests are fired along with the proper static code analysis. The way Qt ensures quality is a role model.

6. Cybersecurity  

I've already mentioned that Qt can react quickly to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities and patch the framework if needed. The more SOUPs you use, the more unpredictable cyber issues you have.

Also specifically for your devices, Qt provides programming tools within their module that allow you to implement secure network protocols and encrypted communication.

7. Extra Solutions  

Qt offers more than just the framework. It offers a full range of design and test automation tools to speed up development and improve quality. Qt Design Studio lets designers and developers create beautiful user interfaces with live previews, pixel-perfect designs, and seamless integration with Qt applications. There is also a possibility to export the Figma project to Qt Design Studio.

For testing and automation, Qt offers Squish, a powerful tool to automate GUI tests across multiple platforms, so your software is rock solid. Test Center helps you manage, track, and analyze test results, so you can develop faster.

A Powerful Choice for Medical Device Development  

As you've seen, there are compelling reasons to choose Qt for medical software development. To learn more about choosing the right technology for healthcare software, check out our course on Qt Academy. Feel free to contact us if you're preparing to start your project and need experts consulting your technological choices. We can also be handy if you miss competencies in your current team.

You will be able to meet us at Qt World Summit this year. Get tickets and let's talk there!

Author: Lukas Kosiński
Medical Software Expert | Former Qt Developer | CEO at Scythe Studio
Let’s connect on LinkedIn to discuss Qt, medical software development, and cutting-edge technologies in healthcare!