DocTalk

Inspiration

We're all busy people - it's hard to find time for ourselves, let alone for appointments. Currently, one of the biggest problems in the medical field is the inaccessibility of doctors and practitioners - an issue that many of us have experienced firsthand. It often takes weeks or even months to get an appointment with a family doctor for an incredibly simple diagnosis, leading to mass disappointment and distrust of the medical system. Additionally, patients often have to book appointments long in advance, which is highly inconvenient for people with busy or changing schedules.

There is a simple solution. By allowing easy communication between patients and doctors, we can reduce reluctance or hesitancy to reach out. Simple diagnoses can be given out quickly to ease patients' minds, and more complicated diagnoses can be prioritized.

What it does

DocTalk is an online chatting app that allows patients to quickly and easily connect with their doctors. Doctors can quickly send follow-up messages and request appointments, and patients can send new symptoms and book new appointments in seconds.

How we built it

The app was created with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript using Svelte-Kit.

Challenges we ran into

We were on a much tighter timeframe than we are typically used to. We had to learn and write new languages and applications under heavy time pressure, and we succeeded in creating a polished final product that we are quite proud of.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of making our messages work using websockets. This was not something any of us were previously familiar with, so making it work so perfectly is definitely a point of pride for our group. Addtionally, we believe this is an incredibly polished app for such a short time frame.

What we learned

One of the most significant things we learned making DocTalk was the ability to work as a team under pressure. We had ambitious goals for DocTalk with far less time than initially anticipated, so we had to stay focused and work together for the whole eight hours.

What's next for DocTalk

We'd like to add the ability for patients to match with family doctors accepting patients. Finding family doctors has become a long and tedious task, leaving over 20% of Canadians without family medical care. By adding support for Canadians without doctors, our app could be an all in one solution for all healthcare needs.